The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Neuron. 2013 Aug 21;79(4):658-64. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2013.06.016.
The basolateral amygdala (BLA) and ventral hippocampus (vHPC) have both been implicated in mediating anxiety-related behaviors, but the functional contribution of BLA inputs to the vHPC has never been directly investigated. Here we show that activation of BLA-vHPC synapses acutely and robustly increased anxiety-related behaviors, while inhibition of BLA-vHPC synapses decreased anxiety-related behaviors. We combined optogenetic approaches with in vivo pharmacological manipulations and ex vivo whole-cell patch-clamp recordings to dissect the local circuit mechanisms, demonstrating that activation of BLA terminals in the vHPC provided monosynaptic, glutamatergic inputs to vHPC pyramidal neurons. Furthermore, BLA inputs exerted polysynaptic, inhibitory effects mediated by local interneurons in the vHPC that may serve to balance the circuit locally. These data establish a role for BLA-vHPC synapses in bidirectionally controlling anxiety-related behaviors in an immediate, yet reversible, manner and a model for the local circuit mechanism of BLA inputs in the vHPC.
外侧杏仁核（BLA）和腹侧海马体（vHPC）都被认为与调节焦虑相关行为有关，但 BLA 输入对 vHPC 的功能贡献从未被直接研究过。在这里，我们展示了 BLA-vHPC 突触的激活可以急性和强烈地增加焦虑相关行为，而 BLA-vHPC 突触的抑制则减少了焦虑相关行为。我们结合了光遗传学方法和体内药理学操作以及离体全细胞膜片钳记录，以剖析局部回路机制，证明了 vHPC 中 BLA 末端的激活为 vHPC 锥体神经元提供了单突触谷氨酸能输入。此外，BLA 输入通过 vHPC 中的局部中间神经元发挥多突触抑制作用，这可能有助于在局部平衡回路。这些数据确立了 BLA-vHPC 突触在以直接但可逆的方式双向控制焦虑相关行为中的作用，以及 BLA 输入在 vHPC 中的局部回路机制的模型。
