Brainstem sensing of multiple body signals during food consumption

Abstract

Studies of body-to-brain communication often examine one stimulus or organ at a time, yet the brain must integrate many body signals during behavior. For example, food consumption generates diverse oral and post-oral chemical and mechanical signals transduced by well-characterized peripheral neuronal pathways. Far less is known about how these and other bodily signals are integrated and organized in the brainstem lateral parabrachial nucleus (LPBN), a key interoceptive sensory hub. We established methods to image the activity of 1000s of neurons throughout a large region of mouse LPBN. Food consumption drove a seconds-long wave of activity across LPBN, with dynamics mirroring the movement of food through the upper gastrointestinal tract observed using X-ray fluoroscopy. By imaging the same neurons across days, we found that spatially clustered subsets of neurons encoded oral signals, stomach filling, visceral malaise, arousal, and/or body movement. Moreover, only certain subsets were modulated by cortical input. Together, these experiments reveal a functional specialization in the LPBN that integrates contextual information from the body to guide behavior.