RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Selective Suppression of Plasticity in Amygdala Inputs from Temporal Association Cortex by the External Capsule
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 339
OP 345
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5537-10.2011
VO 31
IS 1
A1 Morozov, Alexei
A1 Sukato, Daniel
A1 Ito, Wataru
YR 2011
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/1/339.abstract
AB GABAergic neurons in the external capsule (EC) provide feedforward inhibition in the lateral amygdala (LA), but how EC affects synaptic transmission and plasticity in inputs from specific cortical areas remains unknown; this is because axonal fibers from different cortical areas are intermingled in the amygdala and cannot be activated selectively using conventional electrical stimulation. Here, we achieved selective activation of fibers from the temporal association cortex (TeA) or the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) by using channelrhodopsin-2. Long-term potentiation (LTP) in the TeA–LA pathway, which runs through EC, was enabled by cutting connections between EC and LA or by blocking GABAA receptor-mediated transmission. In contrast, LTP in the ACC–LA pathway, which bypasses EC, was GABAA receptor independent. The EC transection shifted balance between inhibitory and excitatory responses in the TeA–LA pathway toward excitation, but had no effect on the ACC–LA pathway. Thus, EC provides pathway-specific suppression of amygdala plasticity.