Whole-brain mapping of monosynaptic afferent inputs to the CRH neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex of mice

Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) neurons are densely distributed in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), which plays a crucial role in integrating and processing emotional and cognitive inputs from other brain regions. Therefore, it is important to know the neural afferent patterns of mPFC(CRH) neurons, which are still unclear. Here, we utilized a rabies virus-based monosynaptic retrograde tracing system to map the presynaptic afferents of the mPFC(CRH) neurons throughout the entire brain. The results show that the mPFC(CRH) neurons receive inputs from three main groups of brain regions: (1) the cortex, primarily the orbital cortex, somatomotor areas, and anterior cingulate cortex; (2) the thalamus, primarily the anteromedial nucleus, mediodorsal thalamic nucleus, and central medial thalamic nucleus; and (3) other brain regions, primarily the basolateral amygdala, hippocampus, and dorsal raphe nucleus. Taken together, our results are valuable for further investigations into the roles of the mPFC(CRH) neurons in normal and neurological disease states. These investigations can shed light on various aspects such as cognitive processing, emotional modulation, motivation, sociability, and pain.