Midbrain projection to the basolateral amygdala encodes anxiety-like but not depression-like behaviors.

ABSTRACT: Anxiety disorders are complex diseases, and often co-occur with depression. It is as yet unclear if a common neural circuit controls anxiety-related behaviors in both anxiety-alone and comorbid conditions. Here, utilizing the chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) paradigm that induces singular or combined anxiety- and depressive-like phenotypes in mice, we show that a ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine circuit projecting to the basolateral amygdala (BLA) selectively controls anxiety- but not depression-like behaviors. Using circuit-dissecting ex vivo electrophysiology and in vivo fiber photometry approaches, we establish that expression of anxiety-like, but not depressive-like, phenotypes are negatively correlated with VTA → BLA dopamine neuron activity. Further, our optogenetic studies d

SUBMITTER: Morel C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8940900 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature