ArticleNature neuroscience2025
A hypothalamus-brainstem circuit governs the prioritization of safety over essential needs.
Article in Nature neuroscience, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Balancing acts: lateral hypothalamic circuits coordinating feeding, anxiety, and social interactions.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2026Review
- Hypothalamic regulation of energy homeostasis: Quo vadis.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2026Review
- Bidirectional regulation of social memory by two distinct types of GABAergic neurons in the lateral septum.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Activation of hypothalamic-pontine-spinal pathway promotes locomotor initiation and functional recovery after spinal cord injury in mice.Nature communications · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Animals continuously adapt their behavior to balance survival and fulfilling essential needs. This balancing act involves prioritization of safety over the pursuit of other needs. However, the specific deep brain circuits that regulate safety-seeking behaviors in conjunction with motor circuits remain poorly understood. Here, we identify a class of glutamatergic neurons in the mouse lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) that target the midbrain locomotor-promoting pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN). Following activation, this LHA-PPN pathway orchestrates context-dependent locomotion, prioritizing safety-directed movement over other essential needs such as foraging or social contact. Remarkably, the neuronal activity of this circuit correlates directly with safety-seeking behavior. The circuit may respond to both intrinsic and extrinsic cues, having a pivotal role in ensuring survival. Our findings uncover a circuit motif within the lateral hypothalamus that, when recruited, prioritizes critical needs through the recruitment of an appropriate motor action.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.