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Featured ArticleResearch Articles, Systems/Circuits

Encoding of Environmental Cues in Central Amygdala Neurons during Foraging

Marion Ponserre, Federica Fermani, Louise Gaitanos and Rüdiger Klein
Journal of Neuroscience 4 May 2022, 42 (18) 3783-3796; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1791-21.2022
Marion Ponserre
Department of Molecules–Signaling–Development, Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, in foundation, Martinsried Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Planegg, Germany
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Federica Fermani
Department of Molecules–Signaling–Development, Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, in foundation, Martinsried Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Planegg, Germany
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Louise Gaitanos
Department of Molecules–Signaling–Development, Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, in foundation, Martinsried Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Planegg, Germany
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Rüdiger Klein
Department of Molecules–Signaling–Development, Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, in foundation, Martinsried Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Planegg, Germany
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Abstract

To successfully forage in an environment filled with rewards and threats, animals need to rely on familiar structures of their environment that signal food availability. The central amygdala (CeA) is known to mediate a panoply of consummatory and defensive behaviors, yet how specific activity patterns within CeA subpopulations guide optimal choices is not completely understood. In a paradigm of appetitive conditioning in which mice freely forage for food across a continuum of cues, we found that two major subpopulations of CeA neurons, Somatostatin-positive (CeASst) and protein kinase Cδ-positive (CeAPKCδ) neurons, can assign motivational properties to environmental cues. Although the proportion of food responsive cells was higher within CeASst than CeAPKCδ neurons, only the activities of CeAPKCδ, but not CeASst, neurons were required for learning of contextual food cues. Our findings point to a model in which CeAPKCδ neurons may incorporate stimulus salience together with sensory features of the environment to encode memory of the goal location.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The CeA has a very important role in the formation of memories that associate sensory information with aversive or rewarding representation. Here, we used a conditioned place preference paradigm, where freely moving mice learn to associate external cues with food availability, to investigate the roles of CeA neuron subpopulations. We found that CeASst and CeAPKCδ neurons encoded environmental cues during foraging but only the activities of CeAPKCδ neurons were required for learning of contextual food cues.

  • associative memory
  • central amygdala
  • foraging
  • miniscope calcium imaging
  • optogenetic
  • reward learning

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The Journal of Neuroscience: 42 (18)
Journal of Neuroscience
Vol. 42, Issue 18
4 May 2022
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Encoding of Environmental Cues in Central Amygdala Neurons during Foraging
Marion Ponserre, Federica Fermani, Louise Gaitanos, Rüdiger Klein
Journal of Neuroscience 4 May 2022, 42 (18) 3783-3796; DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1791-21.2022

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Encoding of Environmental Cues in Central Amygdala Neurons during Foraging
Marion Ponserre, Federica Fermani, Louise Gaitanos, Rüdiger Klein
Journal of Neuroscience 4 May 2022, 42 (18) 3783-3796; DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1791-21.2022
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Keywords

  • associative memory
  • central amygdala
  • foraging
  • miniscope calcium imaging
  • optogenetic
  • reward learning

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