The medial preoptic area (MPOA) and ventrolateral subdivision of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMHvl) control mating and aggression, respectively. The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNSTpr) projects to both of these hypothalamic nuclei, but how neural representations in the BNSTpr may contribute to this behavioural control is unknown. Here, Yang et al. show that BNSTpr neurons in mice control the transition between the appetitive and consummatory phases of mating and aggression by shaping hypothalamic neural representations.

Your institute does not have access to this article