Fear is a fundamental emotion that triggers rapid and automatic behavioral response. Fear is known to suppress reward-seeking behaviors, interrupt previous activities to prioritize defensive responses and lead to rapid switch to defensive reactions. Dopamine (DA) plays a complicated role in the choice and performance of actions and it has a potential interaction of innate actions with the presence of fear. Here, in a series of experiments we explore the role of the different DA striatal pathways in mediating grooming, an innate behavior comprised of a structured sequence of repetitive actions, with or without the presence of fear. Using chemogenetics, we specifically inhibited the DA pathways projecting to the dorsolateral striatum (DLS), dorsomedial striatum (DMS), and ventral striatum (VS), while mice were engaged in a behavioral paradigm inducing grooming during the presentation of a fear related cue. We found that fear related cues consistently reduced grooming proportions and shortened induced grooming bouts, regardless of DA manipulation, indicating prioritization of freezing behavior in fearful contexts. This also suggests that fear responses may be mediated through pathways independent of DA-based action selection. The role of DA, however, varies depending on the specific striatal pathway. Inhibiting DLS DA input delayed grooming initiation and reduced grooming when competing with freezing. In contrast, DMS DA input had no effect on grooming, while inhibition of VS mesolimbic DA input increased grooming proportions and duration. These findings underscore the distinct and sometimes opposing roles of different DA-striatal pathways in modulating innate behaviors. We discuss potential implications of this duality in DA function for both theoretical and clinical fields.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2025.110323 | DOI Listing |
Neuropharmacology
January 2025
School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel; The Integrated Brain and Behavior Research Center (IBBRC), University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel. Electronic address:
Fear is a fundamental emotion that triggers rapid and automatic behavioral response. Fear is known to suppress reward-seeking behaviors, interrupt previous activities to prioritize defensive responses and lead to rapid switch to defensive reactions. Dopamine (DA) plays a complicated role in the choice and performance of actions and it has a potential interaction of innate actions with the presence of fear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Atten Disord
January 2025
School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, UK.
Objective: To compare the effect of motivational features on sustained attention in children born very preterm and at term.
Method: EEG was recorded while 34 8-to-11-year-old children born very preterm and 34 term-born peers completed two variants of a cued continuous performance task (CPT-AX); a standard CPT-AX with basic shape stimuli, and structurally similar variant, with a storyline, familiar characters, and feedback.
Results: Higher hit rates, quicker response times and larger event-related potential (ERP) amplitudes were observed during the motivating, compared with the standard, task.
BMJ Case Rep
January 2025
Maxillofacial Surgery, Waikato Hospital, Hamilton, New Zealand.
A man in his late 50s was referred by a speech and language therapist for consideration of a palatal lift prosthesis (PLP) to improve his speech intelligibility. He presented with hypokinetic dysarthria characterised by reduced loudness, breathy voice and hypernasality. The patient had a diagnosis of progressive muscular dystrophy and mobilised in a motorised wheelchair.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVet Dermatol
January 2025
IVC Evidensia Referral Hospital, EDZ Arnhem, Arnhem, the Netherlands.
Background: Alopecia X (AX) is a common noninflammatory alopecic condition of Pomeranian dogs with an unknown cause. While a genetic aetiology is suspected, no current tests can predict the development of this disorder or confirm the aetiology. Therefore, identifying potential risk indicators for the development of AX would be of value in this breed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInjury
December 2024
Hull Royal Infirmary, Anlaby Road, Kingston upon Hull HU3 2JZ, UK. Electronic address:
Frame configuration for the management of complex tibial fractures is highly variable and is dependent upon both fracture pattern and surgeon preference. The optimal number of rings to use when designing a frame remains uncertain. Traditionally larger, multi-ring-per-segment constructs have been assumed to offer optimal stability and therefore favourable conditions for fracture healing but there is little in-vivo evidence for this and the recent concept of reverse dynamisation challenges this approach.
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