Figure 2.

LH CaMKIIα⁺ neurons bidirectionally modulate predatory attack and eating in hunting behavior. (a) Representative raw trace and heat map during predation: hunting process (blue), cricket consumption process (yellow), and free movement (gray). (b) Average GCaMP signal aligned to the start of attack and prey consumption (each of five mice was repeated for three times, one-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett's post hoc test, ^∗∗∗∗P < 0.0001). (c) Mean calcium signal activities during feeding behavior (each of five mice was repeated for three times), food exploration (green), and feeding (red) were shown, and the error bar indicated SEM. (d) Heat map of fluorescence alteration (each of five mice was repeated for three times). (e) Mean GCaMP signal of all mice aligned to food retrieval (each of five mice was repeated for three times, one-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett's post hoc test, ^∗∗∗∗P < 0.0001). (f–j) Effects of activation LH CaMKIIα⁺ neurons on hunting. (f₁) Representative image of CaMKIIα::ChR2^LH expression and optical cannula position and Fos immunolabeling, scale bar, 200 μm. (f₂) Colocalization of the AAV-CaMKIIα-ChR2-EYFP virus (green) and immunostaining of CaMKIIα (red), scale bar, 30 μm. Latency of hunting a cricket (g), duration of hunting (h), duration of consuming (i), and attack possibility of 5 crickets (j) (n = 6, paired t-test, ^∗∗∗∗P < 0.0001, ^∗∗∗P < 0.001, ^∗∗P < 0.01). (k–n) Effect of chemogenetic inhibition of CaMKIIα^LH neurons on hunting behavior. (k₁) Representative image virus expression, scale bar, 200 μm. (k₂) Colocalization of the hM4di-mCherryexpression and immunostaining of CaMKIIα (green), scale bar, 30 μm. Latency of a sequential hunting (l), duration of hunting (m), and duration of cricket consumption (n) (n = 6, paired t-test, ^∗∗∗∗P < 0.0001, ^∗∗∗P < 0.001).