Yeh Li-Feng, Zuo Shuzhen, Liu Pin-Wu
RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Saitama, Japan.
Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Front Mol Neurosci. 2024 Feb 14;17:1364268. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2024.1364268. eCollection 2024.
The central amygdala (CeA) is crucial in integrating sensory and associative information to mediate adaptive responses to emotional stimuli. Recent advances in genetic techniques like optogenetics and chemogenetics have deepened our understanding of distinct neuronal populations within the CeA, particularly those involved in fear learning and memory consolidation. However, challenges remain due to overlapping genetic markers complicating neuron identification. Furthermore, a comprehensive understanding of molecularly defined cell types and their projection patterns, which are essential for elucidating functional roles, is still developing. Recent advancements in transcriptomics are starting to bridge these gaps, offering new insights into the functional dynamics of CeA neurons. In this review, we provide an overview of the expanding genetic markers for amygdala research, encompassing recent developments and current trends. We also discuss how novel transcriptomic approaches are redefining cell types in the CeA and setting the stage for comprehensive functional studies.
中央杏仁核（CeA）在整合感觉和联想信息以介导对情绪刺激的适应性反应方面至关重要。光遗传学和化学遗传学等基因技术的最新进展加深了我们对CeA内不同神经元群体的理解，特别是那些参与恐惧学习和记忆巩固的神经元群体。然而，由于重叠的遗传标记使神经元识别变得复杂，挑战依然存在。此外，对分子定义的细胞类型及其投射模式的全面理解，这对于阐明功能作用至关重要，仍在不断发展中。转录组学的最新进展开始弥合这些差距，为CeA神经元的功能动态提供了新的见解。在这篇综述中，我们概述了杏仁核研究中不断扩展的遗传标记，包括最近的发展和当前趋势。我们还讨论了新的转录组学方法如何重新定义CeA中的细胞类型，并为全面的功能研究奠定基础。
