The long-term objective of the proposed work is to identify and characterize at high resolution the structure and chemistry of neural circuits in the mammalian brain that underlie the basic drives and emotions keeping individuals alive and assuring survival of the species associated with hunger and thirst, defensive (fight or flight) behavior, reproductive (sexual and parental) behavior, and the sleep/wake cycle. Previous work identified the hypothalamus as a critical node in this circuitry, and characterized in detail axonal input/output relationships of its medial half with the pituitary gland, cerebral hemispheres, and brainstem/spinal cord. The proposed work is designed to complete in a systematic way, and to extend, a similar analysis of the lateral hypothalamus, and is based on the hypothesis that the lateral hypothalamus consists of two fundamentally different components, a dorsal region with widespread, diffuse projections to much of the central nervous system, and a surrounding compartmentalized region divided into some two dozen parts with very specific projection patterns to specific functional systems. The three specific aims are, a) to complete a phase one, regional analysis of the surrounding compartmentalized region;b) to begin a phase two, neuronal cell type analysis, starting with certain lateral hypothalamic regions apparently involved critically in food appetite regulation;and c) to facilitate the entry of neuroanatomical data into neuroinformatics workbenches on the web. The research is based on the combined use in rats of experimental intra-axonal pathway tracing methods, and hybridization histochemistry for the cell type-specific expression of neurotransmitter-related genes. There is a rich clinical and experimental history, dating back over a century, that disturbances of the hypothalamus, and parts of the brain interacting with the hypothalamus, produce depending on localization either obesity or anorexia, profound effects on cardiovascular and endocrine (for example, blood glucose) measures, anxiety and mood, aggressive behavior, sexual behavior and physiology (for example, the menstrual cycle), and disturbances of normal sleep and wakefulness patterns. The proposed research is designed to clarify very poorly understood neural circuits that mediate normal ingestive, defensive, reproductive, and sleep/wake behaviors;understanding their pathology will follow.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award (R37)
Project #
5R37NS016686-31
Application #
7600609
Study Section
Neuroendocrinology, Neuroimmunology, and Behavior Study Section (NNB)
Program Officer
Mitler, Merrill
Project Start
1980-09-01
Project End
2010-05-31
Budget Start
2009-06-01
Budget End
2010-05-31
Support Year
31
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$356,114
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Southern California
Department
Biology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
072933393
City
Los Angeles
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
90089
Brown, Ramsay A; Swanson, Larry W (2015) Golgi: Interactive Online Brain Mapping. Front Neuroinform 9:26
Brown, Ramsay A; Swanson, Larry W (2013) Neural systems language: a formal modeling language for the systematic description, unambiguous communication, and automated digital curation of neural connectivity. J Comp Neurol 521:2889-906
Hahn, Joel D; Swanson, Larry W (2012) Connections of the lateral hypothalamic area juxtadorsomedial region in the male rat. J Comp Neurol 520:1831-90
Hahn, Joel D (2010) Comparison of melanin-concentrating hormone and hypocretin/orexin peptide expression patterns in a current parceling scheme of the lateral hypothalamic zone. Neurosci Lett 468:12-7
Hahn, Joel D; Swanson, Larry W (2010) Distinct patterns of neuronal inputs and outputs of the juxtaparaventricular and suprafornical regions of the lateral hypothalamic area in the male rat. Brain Res Rev 64:14-103
Dong, Hong-Wei; Swanson, Larry W; Chen, Lin et al. (2009) Genomic-anatomic evidence for distinct functional domains in hippocampal field CA1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 106:11794-9
Simmons, Donna M; Swanson, Larry W (2009) Comparison of the spatial distribution of seven types of neuroendocrine neurons in the rat paraventricular nucleus: toward a global 3D model. J Comp Neurol 516:423-41
Simmons, Donna M; Swanson, Larry W (2009) Comparing histological data from different brains: sources of error and strategies for minimizing them. Brain Res Rev 60:349-67
Cenquizca, Lee A; Swanson, Larry W (2007) Spatial organization of direct hippocampal field CA1 axonal projections to the rest of the cerebral cortex. Brain Res Rev 56:1-26
Swanson, Larry W; Grant, Gunnar; Hokfelt, Tomas et al. (2007) A century of neuroscience discovery: reflecting on the Nobel Prize awarded to Golgi and Cajal in 1906. Brain Res Rev 55:191-2

Showing the most recent 10 out of 62 publications