The dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH) drives the responses of the sympathetic nervous system to psychosocial stress; however, its inputs are not well understood. Kataoka et al. identified inputs to the rat DMH from the dorsal peduncular cortex and dorsal tenia tecta (DP/DTT). Social defeat stress induced cardiovascular and thermogenic sympathetic stress responses that were diminished by pharmacological or optogenetic inactivation of the DP/DTT, and mimicked through photostimulation of the DP/DTT. This DP/DTT–DMH circuit could be a potential target for treating stress-related disorders.
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Kataoka, N. et al. A central master driver of psychosocial stress responses in the rat. Science 357, 1105–1112 (2020)
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Bray, N. Hot and bothered. Nat Rev Neurosci 21, 245 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-020-0299-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-020-0299-x