The Anterior Cingulate Cortex Promotes Long-Term Auditory Cortical Responses through an Indirect Pathway via the Rhinal Cortex in Mice

Sensory cortical areas are robustly modulated by higher-order cortices. Our previous study shows that the anterior cingulate cortex(ACC) can immediately and transiently enhance responses in the mouse auditory cortex (ACx). Here, we further examined whetherstrong activation of ACC neurons can induce long-term effects in mice of both sexes. To our surprise, only stimulation of cell bodiesin the ACC, but not ACC-to-ACx terminal activation, induced long-term enhancement of auditory responses in the ACx. Anatomicalexamination showed that the ACC indirectly projects to the ACx via the rhinal cortex (RCx). High-frequency stimulation of ACC-projecting terminals to the RCx or RCx-projecting terminals to the ACx induced a similar effect as the cell body activation of ACC neurons, whereas silencing the RCx blocked this long-term enhancement. High-frequency stimulation of ACC projections to the RCx alsoinduced long-term augmentation of sound-evoked flight behavior in male mice. These results show that the ACC promotes the longterm enhancement of auditory responses in the ACx through an indirect pathway via the RCx.
© 2023 Liang, Li et al.