Activation of a Habenulo–Raphe Circuit Is Critical for the Behavioral and Neurochemical Consequences of Uncontrollable Stress in the Male Rat

Exposure to uncontrollable stress [inescapable tailshock (IS)] produces behavioral changes that do not occur if the stressor is controllable [escapable tailshock (ES)] an outcome that is mediated by greater IS-induced dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) serotonin [5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)] activation. It has been proposed that this differential activation occurs because the presence of control leads to top-down inhibition of the DRN from medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), not because uncontrollability produces greater excitatory input. Although mPFC inhibitory regulation over DRN 5-HT activation has received considerable attention, the relevant excitatory inputs that drive DRN 5-HT during stress have not. The lateral habenula (LHb) provides a major excitatory input to the DRN, but very little is known about the role of the LHb in regulating DRN-dependent behaviors. Here, optogenetic silencing of the LHb during IS blocked the typical anxiety-like behaviors produced by IS in male rats. Moreover, LHb silencing blocked the increase in extracellular basolateral amygdala 5-HT during IS and, surprisingly, during behavioral testing the following day. We also provide evidence that LHb-DRN pathway activation is not sensitive to the dimension of behavioral control. Overall, these experiments highlight a critical role for LHb in driving DRN activation and 5-HT release into downstream circuits that mediate anxiety-like behavioral outcomes of IS and further support the idea that behavioral control does not modulate excitatory inputs to the DRN.