# Investigating the role of hilar mossy cells in anxiety-like behavior

> **NIH NIH F30** · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2020 · $50,520

## Abstract

Project Summary
The ability to recognize dangerous situations and environments is crucial for survival, but overvaluing risk can
lead to pathological avoidance of normal activities, potentially leading to anxiety disorders. Many studies over
the past several decades have begun to identify the brain regions underlying threat detection and anxiety
behavior. In particular, the ventral hippocampus has emerged as a critical structure for emotional behaviors,
including innate anxiety. Recently work from our lab and others has shown that neurons in the ventral dentate
gyrus and CA1 encode information about anxiety, and these CA1 neurons preferentially target downstream
structures such as hypothalamus and medial prefrontal cortex. The mechanism by which this anxiety
representation arises in the ventral hippocampus is still unknown, but it is likely that interneurons play a critical
role in shaping this activity. In this proposal, I will test my hypothesis that excitatory interneurons in the ventral
dentate gyrus called mossy cells are preferentially active during exploration of anxiogenic contexts and are
critical for anxiety-related behavior. I will test this hypothesis by combining freely-moving calcium imaging and
optogenetics in a mossy cell-specific Cre-driver line. In Aim 1 I will record calcium activity in ventral mossy cells
during behavioral tests of anxiety in rodents. In Aim 2 I will use bilateral optogenetic inhibition to test whether
this activity is necessary for normal avoidance behavior. To determine how mossy cells influence the output of
the dentate gyrus, in Aim 3 I will simultaneously record calcium activity in granule cells while optogenetically
inhibiting mossy cell activity during anxiety behavior. These experiments will shed light on a poorly understood
component of the hippocampus circuit and provide insight into circuit mechanisms of anxiety representation in
the mammalian brain.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9967128
- **Project number:** 5F30MH117927-03
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Jack Edison Berry
- **Activity code:** F30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $50,520
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-07-01 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9967128

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9967128, Investigating the role of hilar mossy cells in anxiety-like behavior (5F30MH117927-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9967128. Licensed CC0.

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