title: Breathing control center neurons that promote arousal in mice.
abstract: Slow, controlled breathing has been used for centuries to promote mental calming, and it is used clinically to suppress excessive arousal such as panic attacks. However, the physiological and neural basis of the relationship between breathing and higher-order brain activity is unknown. We found a neuronal subpopulation in the mouse preBötzinger complex (preBötC), the primary breathing rhythm generator, which regulates the balance between calm and arousal behaviors. Conditional, bilateral genetic ablation of the ~175Cdh9/Dbx1double-positive preBötC neurons in adult mice left breathing intact but increased calm behaviors and decreased time in aroused states. These neurons project to, synapse on, and positively regulate noradrenergic neurons in the locus coeruleus, a brain center implicated in attention, arousal, and panic that projects throughout the brain.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1870-2759
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yackle
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Lindsay A
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0613-5518
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Schwarz
authors.affiliation: Systems Neurobiology Laboratory, Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.|Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL 60064, USA.
authors.forename: Kaiwen
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8479-0542
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kam
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Jordan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Sorokin
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: John R
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6950-1191
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Huguenard
authors.affiliation: Systems Neurobiology Laboratory, Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Jack L
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3692-9412
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Feldman
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Liqun
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5467-9264
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. krasnow@stanford.edu.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1976-5471
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Krasnow
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001143:Arousal / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D015820:Cadherins / Q000235:genetics; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D008125:Locus Coeruleus / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology; D012119:Respiration / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; C103403:Dbx1 protein, mouse; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; C561947:cadherin-9, mouse