Hunger Potentiates the Habenular Winner Pathway for Social Conflict by Orexin-Promoted Biased Alternative Splicing of the AMPA Receptor Gene

Many animals fight for dominance between conspecifics. Because winners could obtain more resources than losers, fighting outcomes are important for the animal's survival, especially in a situation with insufficient resources, such as hunger. However, it remains unclear whether and how hunger affects fighting outcomes. Herein, we investigate the effects of food deprivation on brain activity and fighting behaviors in zebrafish. We report that starvation induces winning in social conflicts. Before the fights, starved fish show potentiation of the lateral subregion of the dorsal habenula (dHbL)-dorsal/intermediate interpeduncular nucleus (d/iIPN) pathway, which is known to be essential for and potentiated after winning fights. Circuit potentiation is mediated by hypothalamic orexin/hypocretin neuropeptides, which prolong AMPA-type glutamate receptor (AMPAR) activity by increasing the expression of a flip type of alternative splicing variant of the AMPAR subunit. This mechanism may underlie how hungry vertebrates win fights and may be commonly shared across animal phylogeny.