Thalamus and Stress

In this project we study the role of thalamus in stress induced behavioral alterations.

Recent data (Matyas et al., 2018) strongly suggest that the calretinin-positive neurons of the paraventricular thalamic nucleus (CR+/PVT cells) form a critical hub for transferring integrated subcortical signals concerning  the inner state of the animal  to widespread forebrain regions involved in stress related behaviors. Indeed, we found that activity of CR+/PVT cells are strongly linked to arousal and stress.

In this study we test to what extent CR+/PVT cells are responsible to establish the stressed phenotype. We use an innate fear model, opto- and chemogenic approach, automated behaviour analysis, optotagging of CR+/PVT cells before and after the stress. We also study the organization PVT affents at the light and electron microscopic levels. We compare the afferent organization in rodent and human thalamus (Matyas et al., 2018).

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