Fig. 5: LPAG afferents differentially regulate the neuronal activity in different hunting phases.

a–c Experimental scheme of in vivo single-unit recordings in the LPAG after ablation of GABAergic neurons from the CeA (a), the LH (b), and the ZI (c), respectively. d–f Principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering dendrogram classified neurons into different types after input-defined lesions to LPAG-projecting GABAergic neurons from the CeA (d), the LH (e), and the ZI (f), respectively. g–i The percentage of cell types after ablation of LPAG-projecting GABAergic neurons from the CeA (n = 203 neurons, two-sided χ² test, P = 0.0352, P < 0.0001, P = 0.0582, P < 0.0001, P = 0.0005, P < 0.0001, P = 0.0553) (g), the LH (n = 199 neurons, two-sided χ²e test, P = 0.2116, P = 0.0023, P = 0.2413, P = 0.1659, P = 0.0092, P < 0.0001, P = 0.1868) (h), and the ZI (n = 206 neurons, two-sided χ² test, P = 0.0342, P = 0.1173, P = 0.0515, P < 0.0001, P = 0.0088, P = 0.1356, P = 0.008) (i), respectively. j–m, Top, normalized responses of all recorded neurons during predatory hunting, sorted by the peak response of each neuron during hunting. Bottom, the histogram of the percentage of neurons with a response peak in the distribution during different predatory phases in the control (j; replotted from Fig. 1i), and after ablation of LPAG-projecting GABAergic neurons from the CeA (k), the LH (l), and the ZI (m), respectively. Different colored curves (j–m) represent peak fitting of the distribution of maximum point across hunting phases. Dotted lines (j–m) represent the timepoints of put-in of crickets, chase onset, first attack, and eating onset, respectively. Source data are provided as a Source Data File.