Chemo- and optogenetic activation of hypothalamic Foxb1-expressing neurons and their terminal endings in the rostral-dorsolateral PAG leads to tachypnea, bradycardia, and immobility

Foxb1-expressing neurons occur in the dorsal premammillary nucleus (PMd) and further rostrally in the parvafox nucleus, a longitudinal cluster of neurons in the lateral hypothalamus of rodents. The descending projection of these Foxb1+ neurons end in the dorsolateral part of the periaqueductal gray (dlPAG). The functional role of the Foxb1+ neuronal subpopulation in the PMd and the parvafox nucleus remains elusive. In this study, the activity of the Foxb1+ neurons and of their terminal endings in the dlPAG was selectively altered by employing chemo- and optogenetic tools. Our results show that in whole-body barometric plethysmography, hM3Dq-mediated, global Foxb1+ neuron excitation activates respiration. Time-resolved optogenetic gain-of-function manipulation of the terminal endings of Foxb1+ neurons in the rostral third of the dlPAG leads to abrupt immobility and bradycardia. Chemogenetic activation of Foxb1+ cell bodies and ChR2-mediated excitation of their axonal endings in the dlPAG..., , , # Chemo- and optogenetic activation of hypothalamic Foxb1-expressing neurons and their terminal endings in the rostral-dorsolateral PAG leads to tachypnea, bradycardia, and immobility

This data set contains raw data collected in whole-body plethysmography, open field, hot plate experiments with wild-type and transgenic mice.

Optogenetic and chemogenetic actuators were used to activate *Foxb1*+ neurons of the parvafox nucleus and the dorsal premammillary nucleus.

## Description of the data and file structure

The data set contains 3 directories, one for each type of experiments (i.e. WholeBodyPlethysmography, OpenField, HotPlate).

1\. **WholeBodyPlethysmography:**

* Raw files containing data across all conditions and replicates recorded for a specific animal (e.g. AllCond_Animal...xlsx)

* Saline injected condition 1-3 = BL1-BL3 (1-3 indicates the replicate number; 3 replicates were performed on 3 consecutive days)

* Clozapine injected condition 1-3 = Clo1-Clo3 (1-...