​​Talk from Sophie Bagur - ESPCI, Paris

Short abstract:

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We have all introspectively sampled the tie between our body and our emotions and multiple lines of evidence demonstrate the tight correlations between brain–body interactions and affective states. However, the question of the specificity and causality of this link has remained unresolved since it was first epitomized by the historical James-Cannon debate. In the past few years, the possibility of manipulating bodily feedback in the mouse has driven insight into the underlying physiological mechanisms from multiple labs [1],[2],[3]. In this talk, I will present work showing how specific
breathing-driven oscillations underlie specific states of fear and causally contribute to their regulation. During fear-related freezing, regular breathing entrains the olfactory bulb which in turn transmits this rhythm to the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex where it organizes neural activity.
Blocking the feedback of the respiratory rhythm to the brain reduces mice’s ability to maintain prolonged states of freezing. Moreover, despite behaviourally identical freezing behaviour, breathing rate, as well as other bodily parameters, are modified by the proximity of threat. This allows identifying two states of fear that pharmacological testing revealed to be putative states of panic and anxiety respectively. Overall these findings highlight the specificity of bodily states and their functional impact on emotional behaviour.