Long-Range Connectivity Defines Behavioral Specificity of Amygdala Neurons
Long-Range Connectivity Defines Behavioral Specificity of Amygdala Neurons
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DOI：
10.1016/j.neuron.2013.11.006
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发表时间：
2014-01-22
期刊：
影响因子：
16.2
通讯作者：
Luethi, Andreas
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Senn, Verena;Wolff, Steffen B. E.;Luethi, Andreas
记忆是在跨越不同大脑区域的大规模神经元网络中获得和编码的。这种长距离相互作用的解剖学和功能特异性及其在学习中的作用知之甚少。杏仁核和内侧前额叶皮层（mPFC）是相互关联的大脑结构，参与消除条件性恐惧。在这里，我们表明，一个定义的基底杏仁核（BA）投射神经元的亚群，针对边缘前（PL）细分的mPFC是活跃的高度恐惧的状态，而BA神经元，针对边缘下（IL）细分招募，并表现出细胞类型特异性的可塑性，在恐惧消退。通路特异性光遗传学操作表明，通路之间的活性平衡与恐惧消退有因果关系。总之，我们的研究结果表明，虽然在局部混合，长程连接定义不同的杏仁核投射神经元的亚群，并表明长期灭绝记忆的形成取决于两个定义的杏仁核-前额叶通路之间的活动平衡。
Memories are acquired and encoded within large-scale neuronal networks spanning different brain areas. The anatomical and functional specificity of such long-range interactions and their role in learning is poorly understood. The amygdala and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) are interconnected brain structures involved in the extinction of conditioned fear. Here, we show that a defined subpopulation of basal amygdala (BA) projection neurons targeting the prelimbic (PL) subdivision of mPFC is active during states of high fear, whereas BA neurons targeting the infralimbic (IL) subdivision are recruited, and exhibit cell-type-specific plasticity, during fear extinction. Pathway-specific optogenetic manipulations demonstrate that the activity balance between pathways is causally involved in fear extinction. Together, our findings demonstrate that, although intermingled locally, long-range connectivity defines distinct subpopulations of amygdala projection neurons and indicate that the formation of long-term extinction memories depends on the balance of activity between two defined amygdala-prefrontal pathways.