Neuron
Volume 81, Issue 2, 22 January 2014, Pages 428-437
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Article
Long-Range Connectivity Defines Behavioral Specificity of Amygdala Neurons

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2013.11.006Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Fear conditioning and extinction activate distinct populations of BA neurons

  • Behavioral specificity of optogenetically identified IL- and PL-projecting neurons

  • Balance of activity between IL- and PL-projecting BA cells regulates fear extinction

  • Fear conditioning and extinction induce pathway-specific intrinsic plasticity

Summary

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.

Cited by (0)

3

These authors contributed equally to this work

4

Present address: Ernst Strüngmann Institute, 60528 Frankfurt, Germany

5

Present address: INSERM U862, Neurocentre Magendie, 146 Rue Léo-Saignat, 33077 Bordeaux, France

6

Present address: Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, 72076 Tübingen, Germany

7

Present address: Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, 60438 Frankfurt, Germany