Grant: Project Grant

Appropriate responding to cues that predict threat is essential for survival and disrupted in disorders such as depression and anxiety. These disorders also have marked sex differences in susceptibility. How the brain processes threat to modulate adaptive behaviour is not fully understood and the role of sex differences remains to be fully explored. Our preliminary data reveal that male and female mice encode threat discrimination differently despite showing similar behavioural responses to threat cues. This proposal will test the hypothesis that distinct neural circuits regulate threat discrimination in male and female mice. Using techniques to monitor and manipulate neural circuit activity while mice learn about threat we will probe the mechanisms of sex differences in circuit function and their hormonal dependence. Sex differences in neural bases of threat discrimination may contribute to sex differences in psychiatric risk. By providing new insight into how the brain processes threat in male and female mice, this work can contribute to sex-informed understanding of related psychiatric disorders.