Efferent projections of topographically distinct relaxin family peptide receptor-3 (RXFP3) lateral hypothalamus/zona incerta cells

Abstract

Relaxin family peptide receptor-3 (RXFP3) is a ligand-activated G-protein coupled receptor and the cognate receptor for the conserved neuropeptide relaxin-3. We recently demonstrated that chemogenetically activating an RXFP3-expressing population in the lateral hypothalamus and zona incerta (LH/ZIRXFP3) induced escape-like jumping behaviour following fear conditioning, but only in a subset of mice. Given the diverse hodology of the LH and ZI, we hypothesised that LH/ZIRXFP3 cells may consist of discrete subpopulations with unique connectivity patterns that govern different aspects of defensive behaviour. To explore this possibility, we unilaterally injected small volumes of a Cre-dependent a..