Journal
NATURE NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 20, Issue 6, Pages 824-+Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/nn.4553
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Funding
- Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (NARSAD Young Investigator Award)
- NIMH
- Collaborative Clinical Neuroscience Fellowship
- American Brain Foundation Clinical Research Training Fellowship
- MIT Summer Research Program
- Center for Brains, Minds and Machines (CBMM)
- NSF [CCF-1231216]
- NIH [1R25-MH092912-01, R01-MH102441-01, R01-AA023305-01, DP2-DK-102256-01]
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRFP)
- Integrative Neuronal Systems Training Fellowship [T32 GM007484]
- Training Program in the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
- NRSA [5T32GM007484-38]
- Singleton fellowship
- Leventhal fellowship
- Whitaker fellowship
- NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
- Integrative Neuronal Systems Fellowship
- James R. Killian Fellowship
- MIT Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program
- MIT Research Assistantship Program
- JPB Foundation
- PIIF
- PNDRF
- JFDP
- Whitehall Foundation
- Klingenstein Foundation
- NARSAD Young Investigator Award
- Alfred P Sloan Foundation
- New York Stem Cell Foundation
- McKnight Foundation
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Orchestrating appropriate behavioral responses in the face of competing signals that predict either rewards or threats in the environment is crucial for survival. The basolateral nucleus of the amygdala (BLA) and prelimbic (PL) medial prefrontal cortex have been implicated in reward-seeking and fear-related responses, but how information flows between these reciprocally connected structures to coordinate behavior is unknown. We recorded neuronal activity from the BLA and PL while rats performed a task wherein competing shock-and sucrose-predictive cues were simultaneously presented. The correlated firing primarily displayed a BLA -> PL directionality during the shock-associated cue. Furthermore, BLA neurons optogenetically identified as projecting to PL more accurately predicted behavioral responses during competition than unidentified BLA neurons. Finally photostimulation of the BLA -> PL projection increased freezing, whereas both chemogenetic and optogenetic inhibition reduced freezing. Therefore, the BLA -> PL circuit is critical in governing the selection of behavioral responses in the face of competing signals.
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