Selective activation of medial prefrontal-to-accumbens projection neurons by amygdala stimulation and Pavlovian conditioned stimuli
Selective activation of medial prefrontal-to-accumbens projection neurons by amygdala stimulation and Pavlovian conditioned stimuli
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DOI：
10.1093/cercor/bhm223
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发表时间：
2008-08-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Grace, Anthony A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
McGinty, Vincent B.;Grace, Anthony A.
内侧前额叶皮层（mPFC）神经元对巴甫洛夫条件刺激作出反应，这些反应依赖于基底外侧杏仁核（BLA）的输入。在这项研究中，我们通过测试mPFC投射神经元的特定子集是否接受BLA输入并对条件刺激做出反应，来检测mPFC传出回路介导条件反应。在聚氨酯麻醉的大鼠中，我们发现mPFC神经元通过反向激活投射到伏隔核（NAcc）或对侧mPFC （cmPFC）。BLA和巴甫洛夫条件气味的刺激选择性地激活了投射到NAcc的腹侧mPFC神经元亚群，但实际上没有引发投射到cmPFC的mPFC神经元的激活。BLA刺激通常会在投射到任何一个位置的非激活神经元中引起抑制反应。这些结果表明腹侧mpfc - nacc通路可能支持对条件提示的行为反应。此外，由于来自BLA（也编码情感信息）和mPFC的投射在NAcc内汇聚，BLA可能会招募mPFC来驱动特定的NAcc神经元，从而控制前额叶皮质-纹状体-丘脑皮质的信息流。
Medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) neurons respond to Pavlovian conditioned stimuli, and these responses depend on input from the basolateral amygdala (BLA). In this study, we examined the mPFC efferent circuits mediating conditioned responding by testing whether specific subsets of mPFC projection neurons receive BLA input and respond to conditioned stimuli. In urethane-anesthetized rats, we identified mPFC neurons that projected to the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) or to the contralateral mPFC (cmPFC) using antidromic activation. Stimulation of the BLA and Pavlovian conditioned odors selectively activated a subpopulation of ventral mPFC neurons that projected to NAcc, but elicited virtually no activation in mPFC neurons that projected to cmPFC. BLA stimulation typically evoked inhibitory responses among nonactivated neurons projecting to either site. These results suggest that the ventral mPFC-to-NAcc pathway may support behavioral responses to conditioned cues. Furthermore, because projections from the BLA (which also encode affective information) and the mPFC converge within the NAcc, the BLA may recruit the mPFC to drive specific sets of NAcc neurons, and thereby exert control over prefrontal cortical-striato-thalamocortical information flow.