Journal
NEURON
Volume 106, Issue 6, Pages 1026-+Publisher
CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.03.016
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Funding
- A.P. Giannini Foundation postdoctoral fellowship
- NIH K99 Career Development Award [MH116065, DA041445]
- Walter V. and Idun Berry postdoctoral fellowship
- NARSAD Young Investigator Award
- NIH K08 Career Development Award [MH110610]
- NIH F32 [DA038913]
- NeuroChoice Big Idea of the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute
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The central amygdala (CeA) orchestrates adaptive responses to emotional events. While CeA substrates for defensive behaviors have been studied extensively, CeA circuits for appetitive behaviors and their relationship to threat-responsive circuits remain poorly defined. Here, we demonstrate that the CeA sends robust inhibitory projections to the lateral substantia nigra (SNL) that contribute to appetitive and aversive learning in mice. CeA -> SNL neural responses to appetitive and aversive stimuli were modulated by expectation and magnitude consistent with a population-level salience signal, which was required for Pavlovian conditioned reward-seeking and defensive behaviors. CeA -> SNL terminal activation elicited reinforcement when linked to voluntary actions but failed to support Pavlovian associations that rely on incentive value signals. Consistent with a disinhibitory mechanism, CeA inputs preferentially target SNL GABA neurons, and CeA -> SNL and SNL dopamine neurons respond similarly to salient stimuli. Collectively, our results suggest that amygdalanigra interactions represent a previously unappreciated mechanism for influencing emotional behaviors.
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