Hunger flexibly modifies hypothalamic neural circuits responding to threat

Animal and human behaviour frequently involves a choice between actions or goals with conflicting positive and negative outcomes (e.g. rewards and punishments). However, the appropriate action or goal in conflicting situations often depends on physiological pressures like hunger, stress and mating opportunities. This is evident in an ethological setting, in which the need for resources within an environment, such as food, drives approach behaviour, whereas threats to survival, such as predator cues, enhance avoidance behaviour. Accordingly, the appropriate compromise between approach or avoidance behaviour is fundamental to survival for all animals. Hunger is a key physiological pressure that modifies conflict between approach-avoidance behaviours. It is well known that acute threats suppress food intake but when food is scarce, animals must take greater risks and forage within unfamiliar territories and expose themselves to more threats. A fundamental question in animal and human behaviour is how approach-avoidance conflicts are altered following changes in physiological states, such as hunger and the failure to correctly negotiate this balance can have life threatening consequences. This project aims to identify a fundamental neural mechanism responsible for resolving these conflicts. Our proposal is based on our discovery of a novel hypothalamic neural circuit sensitive to peripheral hormonal signals that can tune approach-avoidance conflicts to promote survival.