Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
Nat Neurosci. 2019 Apr;22(4):565-575. doi: 10.1038/s41593-019-0337-z. Epub 2019 Feb 25.
Avoidance of innate threats is often in conflict with motivations to engage in exploratory approach behavior. The neural pathways that mediate this approach-avoidance conflict are not well resolved. Here we isolated a population of dopamine D1 receptor (D1R)-expressing neurons within the posteroventral region of the medial amygdala (MeApv) in mice that are activated either during approach or during avoidance of an innate threat stimulus. Distinct subpopulations of MeApv-D1R neurons differentially innervate the ventromedial hypothalamus and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, and these projections have opposing effects on investigation or avoidance of threatening stimuli. These projections are potently modulated through opposite actions of D1R signaling that bias approach behavior. These data demonstrate divergent pathways in the MeApv that can be differentially weighted toward exploration or evasion of threats.
回避先天威胁通常与探索性接近行为的动机相冲突。介导这种趋近-回避冲突的神经通路尚未得到很好的解决。在这里，我们在小鼠的内侧杏仁核后腹区（MeApv）中分离出一群多巴胺 D1 受体（D1R）表达神经元，这些神经元在接近或回避先天威胁刺激时被激活。MeApv-D1R 神经元的不同亚群分别支配腹内侧下丘脑和终纹床核，这些投射对威胁刺激的调查或回避有相反的影响。通过 D1R 信号的相反作用，这些投射被强烈调节，从而偏向于趋近行为。这些数据表明 MeApv 中有不同的途径，可以对探索或回避威胁进行不同的加权。
