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Leppla CA, Keyes LR, Glober G, Matthews GA, Batra K, Jay M, Feng Y, Chen HS, Mills F, Delahanty J, Olson JM, Nieh EH, Namburi P, Wildes C, Wichmann R, Beyeler A, Kimchi EY, Tye KM. Thalamus sends information about arousal but not valence to the amygdala. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2023; 240:477-499. [PMID: 36522481 PMCID: PMC9928937 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-022-06284-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2022] [Accepted: 11/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE The basolateral amygdala (BLA) and medial geniculate nucleus of the thalamus (MGN) have both been shown to be necessary for the formation of associative learning. While the role that the BLA plays in this process has long been emphasized, the MGN has been less well-studied and surrounded by debate regarding whether the relay of sensory information is active or passive. OBJECTIVES We seek to understand the role the MGN has within the thalamoamgydala circuit in the formation of associative learning. METHODS Here, we use optogenetics and in vivo electrophysiological recordings to dissect the MGN-BLA circuit and explore the specific subpopulations for evidence of learning and synthesis of information that could impact downstream BLA encoding. We employ various machine learning techniques to investigate function within neural subpopulations. We introduce a novel method to investigate tonic changes across trial-by-trial structure, which offers an alternative approach to traditional trial-averaging techniques. RESULTS We find that the MGN appears to encode arousal but not valence, unlike the BLA which encodes for both. We find that the MGN and the BLA appear to react differently to expected and unexpected outcomes; the BLA biased responses toward reward prediction error and the MGN focused on anticipated punishment. We uncover evidence of tonic changes by visualizing changes across trials during inter-trial intervals (baseline epochs) for a subset of cells. CONCLUSION We conclude that the MGN-BLA projector population acts as both filter and transferer of information by relaying information about the salience of cues to the amygdala, but these signals are not valence-specified.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chris A Leppla
- The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Laurel R Keyes
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA
- SNL-KT, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 N Torrey Pines Rd, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA
| | - Gordon Glober
- The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Gillian A Matthews
- The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
- SNL-KT, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 N Torrey Pines Rd, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA
| | - Kanha Batra
- SNL-KT, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 N Torrey Pines Rd, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA
| | - Maya Jay
- The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Yu Feng
- The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Hannah S Chen
- The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Fergil Mills
- The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
- SNL-KT, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 N Torrey Pines Rd, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA
| | - Jeremy Delahanty
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA
- SNL-KT, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 N Torrey Pines Rd, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA
| | - Jacob M Olson
- The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Edward H Nieh
- The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Praneeth Namburi
- The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Craig Wildes
- The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Romy Wichmann
- The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
- SNL-KT, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 N Torrey Pines Rd, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA
| | - Anna Beyeler
- The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Eyal Y Kimchi
- The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Kay M Tye
- The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA.
- SNL-KT, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 N Torrey Pines Rd, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA.
- Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind, 10010 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA.
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Felix-Ortiz AC, Burgos-Robles A, Bhagat ND, Leppla CA, Tye KM. Bidirectional modulation of anxiety-related and social behaviors by amygdala projections to the medial prefrontal cortex. Neuroscience 2015. [PMID: 26204817 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2015.07.041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 249] [Impact Index Per Article: 27.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
The basolateral amygdala (BLA) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) modulate anxiety and social behaviors. It remains to be elucidated, however, whether direct projections from the BLA to the mPFC play a functional role in these behaviors. We used optogenetic approaches in behaving mice to either activate or inhibit BLA inputs to the mPFC during behavioral assays that assess anxiety-like behavior and social interaction. Channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2)-mediated activation of BLA inputs to the mPFC produced anxiogenic effects in the elevated plus maze and open field test, whereas halorhodopsin (NpHR)-mediated inhibition produced anxiolytic effects. Furthermore, activation of the BLA-mPFC pathway reduced social interaction in the resident-intruder test, whereas inhibition facilitated social interaction. These results establish a causal relationship between activity in the BLA-mPFC pathway and the bidirectional modulation of anxiety-related and social behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- A C Felix-Ortiz
- Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
| | - A Burgos-Robles
- Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
| | - N D Bhagat
- Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Program in Behavioral Neuroscience, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - C A Leppla
- Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
| | - K M Tye
- Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
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