TY - JOUR T1 - Selection of active defensive behaviors relies on extended amygdala dopamine D2 receptors JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2021.02.24.432692 SP - 2021.02.24.432692 AU - Laia Castell AU - Valentine Le Gall AU - Laura Cutando AU - Emma Puighermanal AU - Daniel Jercog AU - Pauline Tarot AU - Adrien Tassou AU - Anne-Gabrielle Harrus AU - Marcelo Rubinstein AU - Régis Nouvian AU - Cyril Rivat AU - Cyril Herry AU - Emmanuel Valjent Y1 - 2021/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/02/24/2021.02.24.432692.abstract N2 - The ability to efficiently switch from one defensive strategy to another maximizes an animal’s chance of survival. Here, we demonstrate that the selection of active defensive behaviors requires the coordinated activation of dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) signaling within the central extended amygdala (EA) comprising the nucleus accumbens, the oval bed nucleus stria terminals and the central amygdala. We find that discriminative learning between predictive and non-predictive threat auditory stimuli is unaltered in mice carrying a temporally-controlled deletion of D2R within output neurons of the EA. In contrast, intact EA D2R signaling is required for active avoidance learning and innate flight responses triggered by a visual threat stimulus (looming). Consequently, conditional D2R knockout mice biased defensive responses toward passive defensive strategies. Altogether, these findings identify EA D2R signaling as an important mechanism by which DA regulates the switch from passive to active defensive behaviors, regardless whether of learned or innate threat.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest. ER -