Dr. William Hodos NACS Seminar: Dr. Hugo Tejeda

Prefrontal cortical neuropeptidergic control of threat appraisal and circuit dynamics

Emergent properties of the brain underlie coordinated motivated behavior in response to challenges and reward pursuit. Emergent properties are complex activity patterns in microcircuits and networks not predictable from properties of the individual parts. Dysfunction in emergent properties of limbic circuitry is implicated in mental health disorders. Neuropeptides and monoamines, secreted neuromodulators that signal via G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), are expressed in limbic circuits and trigger robust changes in motivation and affect. There remains a critical knowledge gap in our understanding of how neuromodulators regulate emergent properties of limbic circuits underlying top-down control of coordinated motivation and affective behavior, largely due to technical limitations. Neuromodulators expressed in limbic circuits include the endogenous opioid peptides dynorphin (Dyn) and enkephalin (Enk), the neuropeptide somatostatin (SST) and the monoamine dopamine (DA). These systems are of relevance as their dysfunction is implicated in mental health disorders and GPCRs, broadly-speaking, represent the largest existing therapeutic space. The mission of our laboratory is to understand how neuropeptides and monoamines modulate limbic circuit function from cellular action to large scale networks to control motivation and affect relevant to mental health and disease.

Dr. Hugo Tejeda is a Stadtman Investigator and Chief of the Unit on Neuromodulation and Synaptic Integration at the NIH/NIMH.

Dr. William Hodos NACS Seminars are free and open to the public.