Predatory hunting and exposure to a live predator induce opposite patterns of Fos immunoreactivity in the PAG

Considering the periaqueductal gray's (PAG) general roles in mediating motivational responses, in the present study, we compared the Fos expression pattern in the PAG induced by innate behaviors underlain by opposite motivational drivers, in rats, namely, insect predation and defensive behavior evoked by the confrontation with a live predator (a cat). Exposure to the predator was associated with a striking Fos expression in the PAG, where, at rostral levels, an intense Fos expression was found largely distributed in the dorsomedial and dorsolateral regions, whereas, at caudal levels, Fos-labeled cells tended to be mostly found in the lateral and ventrolateral columns, as well as in the dorsal raphe nucleus. Quite the opposite, insect predation was associated with increased Fos expression predominantly in the rostral two thirds of the lateral PAG, where the majority of the Fos-immunoreactive cells were found at the oculomotor nucleus levels. Remarkably, both exposure to the cat and insect predation upregulated Fos expression in the supraoculomotor region and the laterodorsal tegmental nucleus. Overall, the present results clearly suggest that the PAG activation pattern appears to reflect, at least partly, the animal's motivational status. It is well established that the PAG is critical for the expression of defensive responses, and, considering the present findings, it will be important to investigate how the PAG contributes to the expression of the predatory behavior, as well.