Rodent research delineates how the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and central amygdala (CeA) control defensive behaviors, but translation of these findings to humans is needed. Here, we compare humans with natural-selective bilateral BLA lesions to rats with a chemogenetically silenced BLA. We find, across species, an essential role for the BLA in the selection of active escape over passive freezing during exposure to imminent yet escapable threat (T). In response to T, BLA-damaged humans showed increased startle potentiation and BLA-silenced rats demonstrated increased startle potentiation, freezing, and reduced escape behavior as compared to controls. Neuroimaging in humans suggested that the BLA reduces passive defensive responses by inhibiting the brainstem via the CeA. Indeed, T conditioning potentiated BLA projections onto an inhibitory CeA pathway, and pharmacological activation of this pathway rescued deficient T responses in BLA-silenced rats. Our data reveal how the BLA, via the CeA, adaptively regulates escape behavior from imminent threat and that this mechanism is evolutionary conserved across rodents and humans.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2018.09.028 | DOI Listing |
Brain Struct Funct
January 2025
Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Boğaziçi University, Bebek, 34342, Istanbul, Turkey.
Theta oscillations of the mammalian amygdala are associated with processing, encoding and retrieval of aversive memories. In the hippocampus, the power of the network theta oscillation is modulated by basal forebrain (BF) GABAergic projections. Here, we combine anatomical and computational approaches to investigate if similar BF projections to the amygdaloid complex provide an analogous modulation of local network activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeurobiol Stress
January 2025
Department of Translational Neuroscience, Wake Forest University, School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA.
With the recent rise in the rate of alcohol use disorder (AUD) in women, the historical gap between men and women living with this condition is narrowing. While there are many commonalities in how men and women are impacted by AUD, an accumulating body of evidence is revealing sex-dependent adaptations that may require distinct therapeutic approaches. Preclinical rodent studies are beginning to shed light on sex differences in the effects of chronic alcohol exposure on synaptic activity in a number of brain regions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
January 2025
Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA.
In vitro studies have shown that a neuron's electroresponsive properties can predispose it to oscillate at specific frequencies. In contrast, network activity in vivo can entrain neurons to rhythms that their biophysical properties do not predispose them to favor. However, there is limited information on the comparative frequency profile of unit entrainment across brain regions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Neurosci
January 2025
Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA, 27599.
Blunted sensitivity to ethanol's aversive effects can increase motivation to consume ethanol; yet, the neurobiological circuits responsible for encoding these aversive properties are not fully understood. Plasticity in cells projecting from the anterior insular cortex (aIC) to the basolateral amygdala (BLA) is critical for taste aversion learning and retrieval, suggesting this circuit's potential involvement in modulating the aversive properties of ethanol. Here, we tested the hypothesis that GABAergic currents onto aIC-BLA projections would be facilitated as a consequence of retrieval of an ethanol-conditioned taste aversion (CTA).
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