A direct projection from the central nucleus of the amygdala to the acoustic startle pathway: Anterograde and retrograde tracing studies.

Rosen, Jeffrey B., Hitchcock, Janice M., Sananes, Catherine B., Miserendino, Mindy J.·1991·Behavioral Neuroscience
DOI 10.1037//0735-7044.105.6.817

Abstract

Previous work has shown that lesions of the central nucleus of the amygdala block fear-potentiated acoustic startle and that electrical simulation of the central nucleus enhances acoustic startle in rats. In the present study, the anterograde tracer Phaseolus vulgaris-leucoagglutinin was used to identify and delineate the course of a direct projection from the central nucleus of the amygdala to the nucleus reticularis pontis caudalis, a nucleus in the acoustic startle circuit. Experiments using the retrograde tracer Fluoro-Gold confirmed this and indicated that the rostral part of the medial subdivision of the central nucleus of the amygdala contains the cells that project to the startle circuit. With this information, lesion studies (see companion article Hitchcock & Davis, 1991) may be used to determine whether this projection plays a role in fear-potentiated startle.

Cited by (32)

  1. The circumplex model of affect: An integrative approach to affective neuroscience, cognitive development, and psychopathology
    POSNER, JONATHAN, RUSSELL, JAMES A., PETERSON, BRADLEY S. · 2005 · Development and Psychopathology
  2. The role of the amygdala in fear and anxiety
    Davis, M · 1992 · Annual Review of Neuroscience
  3. Phasic vs Sustained Fear in Rats and Humans: Role of the Extended Amygdala in Fear vs Anxiety
    Davis, Michael, Walker, David L, Miles, Leigh, Grillon, Christian · 2010 · Neuropsychopharmacology
  4. What is the amygdala?
    Swanson, Larry W., Petrovich, Gorica D. · 1998 · Trends in Neurosciences
  5. The neurobiology of startle
    Koch, M · 1999 · Progress in Neurobiology

See all 255

How to cite

Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.

This page
CoChat. (2026). Citation check: A direct projection from the central nucleus of the amygdala to the acoustic startle pathway: Anterograde and retrograde tracing studies. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1037//0735-7044.105.6.817
The paper
Rosen, J. B., Hitchcock, J. M., Sananes, C. B., & Miserendino, M. J. (1991). A direct projection from the central nucleus of the amygdala to the acoustic startle pathway: Anterograde and retrograde tracing studies. Behavioral Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1037//0735-7044.105.6.817

Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.