Optogenetic Study of Anterior BNST and Basomedial Amygdala Projections to the Ventromedial Hypothalamus.
The basomedial amygdala (BM) influences the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus (VMH) through direct glutamatergic projections as well as indirectly, through the anterior part of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNSTa). However, BM and BNSTa axons end in a segregated fashion in VMH. BM projects to the core of VMH, where VMH's projection cells are located, whereas BNSTa projects to the shell of VMH, where GABAergic cells that inhibit core neurons are concentrated. However, the consequences of this dual regulation of VMH by BM and BNSTa are unknown. To study this question, we recorded the responses of VMH's shell and core neurons to the optogenetic activation of BM or BNSTa inputs in transgenic mice that selectively express Cre-recombinase in glutamatergic or GABAergic neurons. Glutamatergic BM inputs fired most core neurons but elicited no response in GABAergic shell neurons. Following BM infusions of AAV-EF1α-DIO-hChR2-mCherry in Vgat-ires-Cre-Ai6 mice, no anterograde labeling was observed in the VMH, suggesting that GABAergic BM neurons do not project to the VMH. In contrast, BNSTa sent mostly GABAergic projections that inhibited both shell and core neurons. However, BNSTa-evoked IPSPs had a higher amplitude in shell neurons. Since we also found that activation of GABAergic shell neurons causes an inhibition of core neurons, these results suggest that depending on the firing rate of shell neurons, BNSTa inputs could elicit a net inhibition or disinhibition of core neurons. Thus, the dual regulation of VMH by BM and BNSTa imparts flexibility to this regulator of defensive and social behaviors.
['Yamamoto|Ryo|R|', 'Ahmed|Nowrin|N|', 'Ito|Tetsufumi|T|0000-0003-4516-9283', 'Gungor|Nur Zeynep|NZ|', 'Pare|Denis|D|']
D000200:Action Potentials D000818:Animals D066276:Corticomedial Nuclear Complex D005260:Female D059330:GABAergic Neurons D008297:Male D051379:Mice D008822:Mice, Transgenic D009434:Neural Pathways D009474:Neurons D062308:Optogenetics D012686:Septal Nuclei D014697:Ventromedial Hypothalamic Nucleus
BNST Amygdala ventromedial hypothalamus anxiety defensive behaviors fear