Green light relieves stress-induced anxiety-like behaviors via visual-to-prefrontal projections in mice

  • Cell Rep. 2026 Jun 23;45(6):117426. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2026.117426.
Mingjun Zhang  1 ,  Songbin Liu  2 ,  Xu Wang  3 ,  Bojian Ye  4 ,  Ziyun Ni  4 ,  Jun Ma  4 ,  Ying Liu  4 ,  An Liu  2 ,  Zhi Zhang  5 ,  Jun-Ma Yu  6 ,  Wenjuan Tao  7 ,  Peng Cao  8
Affiliations
  • 1. Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciencesand Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
  • 2. Department of Anatomy, Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory for Brain Bank Construction and Resource Utilization, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China.
  • 3. Department of Anesthesiology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University (The First People's Hospital of Hefei), Hefei 230061, China.
  • 4. Department of Anesthesiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciencesand Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
  • 5. Department of Anesthesiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciencesand Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China; Department of Anatomy, Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory for Brain Bank Construction and Resource Utilization, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China; Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine, Institute of Health and Medicine, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 6. Department of Anesthesiology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University (The First People's Hospital of Hefei), Hefei 230061, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 7. Department of Anatomy, Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory for Brain Bank Construction and Resource Utilization, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China; Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases Research of Anhui Province, College and Hospital of Stomatology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 8. Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciencesand Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 42176269 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2026.117426
Abstract

Green environments have long been recognized to produce calming, anxiolytic effects, although the underlying neural mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we find that green light treatment can relieve anxiety-like behaviors by activating a neural pathway from the medial part of the secondary visual cortex (V2M) to the prelimbic cortex (PrL) in mice subjected to acute stress. Viral tracing, fiber photometry, and microendoscopic calcium imaging together show that green light activates glutamatergic inputs from V2M (V2MGlu) to inhibitory neurons expressing corticotropin-releasing factor in the PrL (PrLCRF), which in turn suppress local glutamatergic neurons (V2MGlu→PrLCRF→Glu). Chemogenetic activation of this pathway mimics the anxiolytic effects of green light, whereas artificial inhibition of this pathway or pharmacological blockade of CRF receptor 1 (CRFR1) in the PrL abolishes green-light-induced anxiolysis in acute stress model mice. This study thus indicates a CRF-dependent neural mechanism underlying the anxiolytic effects of green light under stress conditions.

Keywords
CP: Neuroscience; anxiety relief; corticotropin-releasing factor; green light; prelimbic cortex; the secondary visual cortex.
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