The organization of defensive behavior elicited by optogenetic excitation of rat lateral or ventrolateral periaqueductal gray

Rodents display characteristic defense responses to predators that are influenced by predatory imminence. The midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG) serves an important role controlling these responses. The most influential model states that variations in defensive topography are due to distinct PAG regions: ventrolateral PAG (VLPAG) controls postencounter defense, such as freezing and immobility, whereas lateral PAG (LPAG) controls circa-strike defense, such as escape and flight. Here we used channel rhodopsin (ChR2) stimulation to probe the structure of defensive behavior controlled by LPAG and VLPAG. Suprathreshold LPAG stimulation evoked circa-strike defense that was replaced by freezing at stimulation offset. Suprathreshold VLPAG stimulation evoked postencounter--freezing and immobility--but never circa-strike defense. More interestingly, the topography of defensive behavior evoked from LPAG scaled with variations in 465 nm light power. As light power increased, LPAG animals expressed the full defensive syntax of freezing then activity then flight characteristic of increasing predatory imminence. In contrast, the frequency, not topography, of defensive behavior evoked from VLPAG scaled with variations in light power. These findings suggest that LPAG and VLPAG can control variations in defense with increasing predatory imminence in 2 ways. First, consistent with past models, topographical variation can be assembled from different defensive responses controlled by the LPAG (circa-strike) and VLPAG (postencounter). Second, topographical variation can be assembled from variations in LPAG activity itself. (PsycINFO Database Record