Possible involvement of the amygdaloid input in long-term potentiation (LTP) in the medial perforant path-dentate gyrus granule cell synapses in vivo was investigated by evaluating the effects of lesions of the amygdaloid nucleus. The dentate gyrus synaptic potential evoked by low-frequency test stimulation did not change following lesions of the basolateral and central amygdala. However, when ...

Mounting evidence implicates the central (CE) nucleus of the amygdala in the mediation of classically conditioned fear responses. However, little data are available regarding the intrinsic membrane properties of CE amygdala neurons. Here, we characterized the physiological properties of CE medial (CE(M)) and CE lateral (CE(L)) amygdala neurons using whole cell recordings in brain slices maintai...

The amygdala is under inhibitory control from the cortex through the activation of local GABAergic interneurons. This inhibition is greatly diminished during heightened emotional states due to dopamine release. However, dopamine excites most amygdala interneurons, suggesting that this dopaminergic gate may be mediated by an unknown subpopulation of interneurons. We hypothesized that this gate i...

Animals learn to avoid harmful situations by associating a neutral stimulus with a painful one, resulting in a stable threat memory. In mammals, this form of learning requires the amygdala. Although pain is the main driver of aversive learning, the mechanism that transmits pain signals to the amygdala is not well resolved. Here, we show that neurons expressing calcitonin gene-related peptide (C...

Network activity in the lateral central amygdala (CeL) plays a crucial role in fear learning and emotional processing. However, the local circuits of the CeL are not fully understood and have only recently begun to be explored in detail. Here, we characterized the intrinsic circuits in the CeL using paired whole-call patch-clamp recordings, immunohistochemistry, and optogenetics in C57BL/6J wil...

Electrical kindling refers to the seizure-generating properties of brain stimulation. In addition to producing epilepsy, the reorganization of forebrain neurocircuitry associated with kindling contributes to psychiatric disturbances involving fear and anxiety. The amygdala is a limbic structure that kindles readily and regulates the complex neurocircuitry underlying emotional responding. Dopami...

The amygdala is essential for classical fear conditioning. According to the current model of auditory fear conditioning, the lateral nucleus is the input station of the amygdala for conditioned auditory stimuli, whereas the central nucleus is the output station for conditioned fear responses. Yet, the lateral nucleus does not project to the central medial nucleus, where most brainstem projectio...