Dorsal Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis-Subcortical Output Circuits Encode Positive Bias in Pavlovian Fear and Reward.

ABSTRACT: Opposite emotions like fear and reward states often utilize the same brain regions. The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) comprises one hub for processing fear and reward processes. However, it remains unknown how dorsal BNST (dBNST) circuits process these antagonistic behaviors. Here, we exploited a combined Pavlovian fear and reward conditioning task that exposed mice to conditioned tone stimuli (CS)s, either paired with sucrose delivery or footshock unconditioned stimuli (US). Pharmacological inactivation identified the dorsal BNST as a crucial element for both fear and reward behavior. Deep brain calcium imaging revealed opposite roles of two distinct dBNST neuronal output pathways to the periaqueductal gray (PAG) or paraventricular hypothalamus (PVH). dBNST neural activity pr

SUBMITTER: Kaouane N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8713515 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature