Kaiwen Xi, Haoxiang Xiao, Xin Huang, Ziduo Yuan, Mingyue Liu, Honghui Mao, Haiying Liu, Guaiguai Ma, Zishuo Cheng, Yuqiao Xie, Yang Liu, Dayun Feng, Wenting Wang, Baolin Guo, Shengxi Wu
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a highly prevalent and debilitating psychiatric disease often accompanied by severe defensive behaviors, preventing individuals from integrating into society. However, the neural mechanisms of defensiveness in PTSD remain largely unknown. Here, we identified that the higher-order thalamus, the posteromedial complex of the thalamus (PoM), was overactivated in a mouse model of PTSD, and suppressing PoM activity alleviated excessive defensive behaviors. Moreover, we found that diminished thalamic inhibition derived from the thalamic reticular nucleus was the major cause of thalamic hyperactivity in PTSD mice...
February 3, 2023: Science Advances