Central Amygdala Projections to Lateral Hypothalamus Mediate Avoidance Behavior in Rats

Persistent avoidance of stress-related stimuli following acute stress exposure predicts negative outcomes such as substance abuse and traumatic stress disorders. Previous work using a rat model showed that the central amygdala (CeA) plays an important role in avoidance of a predator odor stress-paired context. Here, we show that CeA projections to the lateral hypothalamus (LH) are preferentially activated in male rats that show avoidance of a predator odor-paired context (termed Avoider rats), that chemogenetic inhibition of CeA-LH projections attenuates avoidance in male Avoider rats, that chemogenetic stimulation of the CeA-LH circuit produces conditioned place avoidance (CPA) in otherwise naive male rats, and that avoidance behavior is associated with intrinsic properties of LH-projecting CeA cells. Collectively, these data show that CeALH projections are important for persistent avoidance of stress-related stimuli following acute stress exposure.

Automated summary

The study demonstrates the crucial role of CeA projections to the lateral hypothalamus in avoidance behavior of male rats exposed to stress-related stimuli, suggesting potential implications for substance abuse and traumatic stress disorders. Moreover, the avoidance behavior is found to be associated with intrinsic properties of LH-projecting CeA cells.