Interoception, the sense of internal bodily signals, is essential for physiological homeostasis, cognition, and emotions. While human insular cortex (InsCtx) is implicated in interoception, the cellular and circuit mechanisms remain unclear. We imaged mouse InsCtx neurons during two physiological deficiency states: hunger and thirst. InsCtx ongoing activity patterns reliably tracked the gradual return to homeostasis but not changes in behavior. Accordingly, while artificial induction of hunger or thirst in sated mice via activation of specific hypothalamic neurons (AgRP or SFOGLUT) restored cue-evoked food- or water-seeking, InsCtx ongoing activity continued to reflect physiological satiety. During natural hunger or thirst, food or water cues rapidly and transiently shifted InsCtx population activity to the future satiety-related pattern. During artificial hunger or thirst, food or water cues further shifted activity beyond the current satiety-related pattern. Together with circuit-mapping experiments, these findings suggest that InsCtx integrates visceral-sensory signals of current physiological state with hypothalamus-gated amygdala inputs that signal upcoming ingestion of food or water to compute a prediction of future physiological state.

中文翻译：

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岛叶皮质当前和未来生理状态的估计。

内感受，即内部身体信号的感觉，对于生理稳态、认知和情绪至关重要。虽然人类岛叶皮层 (InsCtx) 与内感受有关，但其细胞和回路机制仍不清楚。我们对两种生理缺陷状态下的小鼠 InsCtx 神经元进行了成像：饥饿和口渴。InsCtx 持续的活动模式可靠地跟踪了稳态的逐渐恢复，但没有跟踪行为的变化。因此，虽然通过激活特定的下丘脑神经元（AgRP 或 SFOGLUT）人工诱导饱腹小鼠的饥饿或口渴恢复了提示诱发的食物或水的寻求，但 InsCtx 持续的活动继续反映了生理饱足感。在自然饥饿或口渴期间，食物或水会迅速而短暂地将 InsCtx 群体活动转变为未来与饱腹感相关的模式。在人为饥饿或口渴期间，食物或水的暗示进一步改变了当前与饱腹感相关的模式之外的活动。结合电路映射实验，这些发现表明 InsCtx 将当前生理状态的内脏感觉信号与下丘脑门控杏仁核输入相结合，发出即将摄入食物或水的信号，以计算对未来生理状态的预测。