Cited by 592Memory and Neural MechanismsNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology ResearchNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior

BLA to vHPC inputs modulate anxiety-related behaviors

Open access
Felix-Ortiz, Ada C., Beyeler, Anna, Seo, Changwoo, Leppla, Christopher A., Wildes, Craig P., Tye, Kay M.·2013·Neuron

Abstract

The basolateral amygdala (BLA) and ventral hippocampus (vHPC) have both been implicated in mediating anxiety-related behaviors, but the functional contribution of BLA inputs to the vHPC has never been directly investigated. Here we show that activation of BLA-vHPC synapses acutely and robustly increased anxiety-related behaviors, while inhibition of BLA-vHPC synapses decreased anxiety-related behaviors. We combined optogenetic approaches with in vivo pharmacological manipulations and ex vivo whole-cell patch-clamp recordings to dissect the local circuit mechanisms, demonstrating that activation of BLA terminals in the vHPC provided monosynaptic, glutamatergic inputs to vHPC pyramidal neurons. Furthermore, BLA inputs exerted polysynaptic, inhibitory effects mediated by local interneurons in the vHPC that may serve to balance the circuit locally. These data establish a role for BLA-vHPC synapses in bidirectionally controlling anxiety-related behaviors in an immediate, yet reversible, manner and a model for the local circuit mechanism of BLA inputs in the vHPC.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.neuron.2013.06.016

Cites

28 of 28 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Optogenetic or pharmacological stimulation of the vHIP increases anxiety-like behavior.

    “while optogenetic or pharmacological stimulation of the region has the opposite effect (16–18).”
  • BLA projection neurons innervating the nucleus accumbens and ventral hippocampus primarily encode information with positive and negative valence, respectively.

    “This work has, for instance, proposed that BLA PNs innervating the NAc and vHPC primarily encode information with positive and negative valence, respectively (17,20,22,23).”
  • Photostimulating BLA PNs targeting the vHPC increases anxiety-like behavior and reduces social interaction.

    “Recent optogenetic studies have shown that photostimulating BLA PNs targeting the vHPC increases anxiety-like behavior and reduces social interaction, whereas photosilencing this pathway has the opposite effects, and, conversely, stimulating NAc-targeting BLA PNs promotes reward-seeking (20,22,23,39).”
  • Photosilencing the BLA→vHPC pathway has effects opposite to photostimulation.

    “Recent optogenetic studies have shown that photostimulating BLA PNs targeting the vHPC increases anxiety-like behavior and reduces social interaction, whereas photosilencing this pathway has the opposite effects, and, conversely, stimulating NAc-targeting BLA PNs promotes reward-seeking (20,22,23,39).”
  • Stimulating NAc-targeting BLA PNs promotes reward-seeking.

    “Recent optogenetic studies have shown that photostimulating BLA PNs targeting the vHPC increases anxiety-like behavior and reduces social interaction, whereas photosilencing this pathway has the opposite effects, and, conversely, stimulating NAc-targeting BLA PNs promotes reward-seeking (20,22,23,39).”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Felix-Ortiz, A. C., Beyeler, A., Seo, C., Leppla, C. A., Wildes, C. P., & Tye, K. M.
Affiliations
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
Corresponding author
Tye, Kay M.
Venue
Neuron
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2013-08
Volume
79
Issue
4
Pages
658-664
ISSN
0896-6273 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1997982013
Cited by
592
References
28
Citations by year
2026: 45 · 2025: 38 · 2024: 55 · 2023: 64 · 2022: 52 · 2021: 63 · 2020: 47 · 2019: 48 · 2018: 46 · 2017: 34 · 2016: 31 · 2015: 37 · 2014: 30 · 2013: 2
FWCI
18.21
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Neuron (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
Funders
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (143586)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH102441)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DP2DK102256)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
Keywords
basolateral amygdala, ventral hippocampus, anxiety-like behavior, glutamatergic input, pyramidal neurons, local interneurons, polysynaptic inhibition, monosynaptic excitation, optogenetics, whole-cell patch clamp
MeSH terms
Channelrhodopsins, Amygdala, Animals, Anxiety, Bacterial Proteins, Disease Models, Animal, Exploratory Behavior, Hippocampus, Luminescent Proteins, Male, Membrane Potentials, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Mice, Transgenic, Neural Pathways, Neurons, Synapses, Tetrodotoxin, Valine, Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists, 6-Cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione, Maze Learning, Halorhodopsins, Sodium Channel Blockers, Mice, Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type 2, In Vitro Techniques

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review