The primate amygdaloid complex is a prominent structure in the medial temporal lobe that comprises a variety of cytoarchitectonically distinct nuclei and cortical regions. The present study employed immunohistochemical and in situ hybridization techniques to determine the distribution of GABAergic cells, fibers, and terminals in the macaque monkey amygdala. Using a monoclonal antibody to GABA, ...

BNST Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis CCK Cholecystokinin cGMP Cyclic guanosine monophosphate DCN Dorsal central autonomic nucleus fMRI Functional magnetic resonance imaging IML Intermediolateral cell column LCTF Lateral central tegmental field LSt cells Lumbar spinothalamic cells MEA Medial amygdala MPOA Medial preoptic area NO Nitric oxide nPGi Nucleus paragigantocellularis NPY Neuropeptid...

Oxytocin produces anxiolytic effects via the central nucleus of the amygdala but how the peptide reaches its receptors in this region has been unclear. In this issue of Neuron, Knobloch et al. (2012) demonstrate that evoked oxytocin release from axon terminals within the central amygdala results in attenuation of fear.

The efferent connections of the central nucleus of the monkey amygdala have been studied using the autoradiographic method for tracing axonal projections. Small injections of 3H-amino-acids which are largely confined to the central nucleus lead to the labeling of several brainstem nuclei as far caudally as the spinomedullary junction. Specifically, in the forebrain, the central nucleus projects...

The amygdala is one of several brain regions suspected to be pathological in autism. Previously, we found that young children with autism have a larger amygdala than typically developing children. Past qualitative observations of the autistic brain suggest increased cell density in some nuclei of the postmortem autistic amygdala. In this first, quantitative stereological study of the autistic b...

Abnormal development of the amygdala has been linked to several neurodevelopmental disorders, including schizophrenia and autism. However, the postnatal development of the amygdala is not easily explored at the cellular level in humans. Here we performed a stereological analysis of the macaque monkey amygdala in order to characterize the cellular changes underlying its normal structural develop...

To confirm that an increase in blood pressure induced by ketamine is mediated through the central nervous system, we examined effect of ketamine, applied directly to amygdala, on pressure. Six male Sprague-Dawley rats were used study. Under head-restrained and unanesthetized condition, 0.2 μl (5 mg/ml) was injected around amygdala at a flow rate μl/min glass pipette, recorded while monitoring s...

The amygdala complex is one component of the temporal lobe that may be damaged unilaterally or bilaterally in children and adults with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) or following status epilepticus. Most MR (magnetic resonance) imaging studies of epileptic patients have shown that volume reduction of the amygdala ranges from 10-30%. In the human amygdala, neuronal loss and gliosis have been repor...

Background Oxytocin may be a possible treatment for multiple neuropsychiatric disorders, including cocaine addiction. Little is known about the site-specific effects of oxytocin on various drug addiction-related brain regions. Furthermore, sexually dimorphic effects of oxytocin on neural function in the addiction circuit have not been established. Here, we studied Fos expression following cocai...