The mouse midbrain periaqueductal gray is organized into target-specific output populations
- 1Max Planck Institute for Brain Research
Abstract
How brains select between behaviours and coordinate their execution is a central question in neuroscience. The vertebrate periaqueductal gray (PAG) controls a remarkable range of instinctive behaviours, from escape and freezing to hunting, vocalization, and micturition. Its columnar organization, the classical framework for mapping these functions, cannot explain how one region controls so many, often mutually exclusive, behaviours. To determine how PAG output is organized, we generated a whole-brain, column- and cell-type-specific synaptic projection atlas of the mouse PAG, showing distinct dorsal and ventral outputs and dense within-PAG connectivity. Retrograde tracing from four motor-related target regions identified segregated PAG populations, biased towards, but not confined to, individual columns. Channelrhodopsin-2-assisted circuit mapping showed that one such population, projecting to the cuneiform nucleus, provides substantial local collaterals, positioned to shape ongoing PAG activity. These findings uncover a modular output architecture that extends the columnar framework, offering a circuit logic for how one brain region produces diverse behaviours.
Related
- Nanochiral graphene quantum dots preferentially target virus-organized membrane states for host-sparing antiviral activity
- Different patterns of eye-specific input are relayed to overlapping populations in the mouse superior colliculus
- Sex-specific bone marrow populations regulate skeletal phenotype and identify CD74-marked osteoclast precursor subsets
- Probability-Dependent Scaling of Fear Responding, But Not Unconditioned Stimulus Inflation, Requires the Periaqueductal Gray
- A closed-loop language-model agent for target-specific multi-objective hit-to-lead optimization
BibTeX
@misc{strosche2026mouse,
title = {{The mouse midbrain periaqueductal gray is organized into target-specific output populations}},
author = {A. Strosche and A. Tamaki and J. N. Mader and E. S. De Biasi and A. V. Stempel},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.64898/2026.11.06.764863},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.06.764863v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The mouse midbrain periaqueductal gray is organized into target-specific output populations
AU - A. Strosche
AU - A. Tamaki
AU - J. N. Mader
AU - E. S. De Biasi
AU - A. V. Stempel
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/06
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.11.06.764863
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.06.764863v1
AB - How brains select between behaviours and coordinate their execution is a central question in neuroscience. The vertebrate periaqueductal gray (PAG) controls a remarkable range of instinctive behaviours, from escape and freezing to hunting, vocalization, and micturition. Its columnar organization, the classical framework for mapping these functions, cannot explain how one region controls so many, often mutually exclusive, behaviours. To determine how PAG output is organized, we generated a whole-brain, column- and cell-type-specific synaptic projection atlas of the mouse PAG, showing distinct dorsal and ventral outputs and dense within-PAG connectivity. Retrograde tracing from four motor-related target regions identified segregated PAG populations, biased towards, but not confined to, individual columns. Channelrhodopsin-2-assisted circuit mapping showed that one such population, projecting to the cuneiform nucleus, provides substantial local collaterals, positioned to shape ongoing PAG activity. These findings uncover a modular output architecture that extends the columnar framework, offering a circuit logic for how one brain region produces diverse behaviours.
ER -