The vHPC-mPFC circuit has been previously implicated in anxiety by both lesion and neurophysiological data (Adhikari et al., 2010b, Kjelstrup et al., 2002 and Shah and Treit, 2004). Based on these findings, we hypothesized that

vHPC input might be used by the mPFC to construct a representation of the aversive features of the EPM, which in turn could be used to guide avoidance behavior. Consistent Nintedanib chemical structure with this hypothesis, we demonstrate here that mPFC units represent safe and aversive arms in the elevated plus maze, regardless of the geometric arrangement of the arms or the stimulus causing aversion. Moreover, firing rates of task-related neurons changed in anticipation of behavior, consistent with a role for these neurons in guiding exploration in the EPM. Also in line with our predictions, this representation was strongest in those neurons that were significantly modulated by vHPC theta oscillations. These data demonstrate that the mPFC represents the aversive

structure of the EPM, and argue that this representation is supported by inputs from the vHPC. If this representation were indeed used to generate avoidance of the open selleck chemical arms, we would predict that animals with the strongest mPFC representations of the maze would be those that avoided the open arms the most. Surprisingly, however, we found the exact opposite. mPFC single units that represented the aversiveness of the arms were found principally in those animals that failed to avoid the open arms. Indeed, in animals that avoided the open arms, units were no more likely to represent these features than would be expected by chance. These results provide a nuanced view of the role of mPFC activity and the vHPC-mPFC circuit in innate

anxiety paradigms as discussed below. Our data clearly demonstrate that the population of mPFC units differentiates STK38 between safe and aversive arms of the EPM. These findings are consistent with the extensive literature demonstrating that task parameters modulate the firing properties of mPFC neurons across a variety of cognitive tasks in highly trained animals (Burgos-Robles et al., 2009, Fujisawa et al., 2008, Jung et al., 1998 and Rich and Shapiro, 2009), which is expected, considering the involvement of the mPFC in diverse cognitive tasks (Birrell and Brown, 2000, Broersen and Uylings, 1999, Farovik et al., 2008, Gemmell et al., 2002, Kesner and Holbrook, 1987, Kolb et al., 1974, Swerdlow et al., 1995 and Tait et al., 2009). Our data build on these findings by extending them to an anxiety paradigm in which animals freely explore a novel environment. Using the EPM, we show that mPFC units can display paradigm-related activity in a task that does not involve operant behavior, overt rewards or external reinforcement.