Liu Anqi, Cheng Yuelin, Huang Ju
Center for Brain Science of Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Department of Anatomy and Physiology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Front Neurosci. 2023 May 5;17:1178693. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1178693. eCollection 2023.
Mammals are frequently exposed to various environmental stimuli, and to determine whether to approach or avoid these stimuli, the brain must assign emotional valence to them. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate the neural circuitry mechanisms involved in the mammalian brain's processing of emotional valence. Although the central amygdala (CeA) and the ventral tegmental area (VTA) individually encode different or even opposing emotional valences, it is unclear whether there are common upstream input neurons that innervate and control both these regions, and it is interesting to know what emotional valences of these common upstream neurons. In this study, we identify three major brain regions containing neurons that project to both the CeA and the VTA, including the posterior bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (pBNST), the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus (PPTg), and the anterior part of the basomedial amygdala (BMA). We discover that these neural populations encode distinct emotional valences. Activating neurons in the pBNST produces positive valence, enabling mice to overcome their innate avoidance behavior. Conversely, activating neurons in the PPTg produces negative valence and induces anxiety-like behaviors in mice. Neuronal activity in the BMA, on the other hand, does not influence valence processing. Thus, our study has discovered three neural populations that project to both the CeA and the VTA and has revealed the distinct emotional valences these populations encode. These results provide new insights into the neurological mechanisms involved in emotional regulation.
哺乳动物经常会接触到各种环境刺激，为了确定是接近还是避开这些刺激，大脑必须赋予它们情感效价。因此，研究哺乳动物大脑处理情感效价所涉及的神经回路机制至关重要。虽然中央杏仁核（CeA）和腹侧被盖区（VTA）分别编码不同甚至相反的情感效价，但尚不清楚是否存在支配和控制这两个区域的共同上游输入神经元，以及这些共同上游神经元的情感效价是什么。在这项研究中，我们确定了三个主要的脑区，其中包含投射到CeA和VTA的神经元，包括终纹床核后部（pBNST）、脚桥被盖核（PPTg）和基底内侧杏仁核前部（BMA）。我们发现这些神经群体编码不同的情感效价。激活pBNST中的神经元会产生正性效价，使小鼠克服其天生的回避行为。相反，激活PPTg中的神经元会产生负性效价，并在小鼠中诱发焦虑样行为。另一方面，BMA中的神经元活动不会影响效价处理。因此，我们的研究发现了三个投射到CeA和VTA的神经群体，并揭示了这些群体编码的不同情感效价。这些结果为情感调节所涉及的神经机制提供了新的见解。
