Featured
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Article |
Top-down control of flight by a non-canonical cortico-amygdala pathway
This study describes a projection from the medial prefrontal cortex to the central amygdala that is involved in the regulation of defensive responses to threat.
- Chandrashekhar D. Borkar
- , Claire E. Stelly
- & Jonathan P. Fadok
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Article
| Open Access
Sustained antidepressant effect of ketamine through NMDAR trapping in the LHb
The discrepancy between the short half-life of ketamine and its long-lasting effects is due to ketamine being trapped in NMDA receptors, and its release depends on neural activity in the lateral habenula.
- Shuangshuang Ma
- , Min Chen
- & Hailan Hu
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Article
| Open Access
Cardiogenic control of affective behavioural state
Direct elevation of heart rate using noninvasive optogenetics in mice influences anxiety-like behaviours in specific environmental contexts, and the posterior insular cortex is implicated in this integration of signals from the heart with environmental risk information.
- Brian Hsueh
- , Ritchie Chen
- & Karl Deisseroth
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Article |
Neurotensin orchestrates valence assignment in the amygdala
In mouse brain, neurotensin released into the basolateral amygdala by neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus assigns positive or negative valence during associative learning.
- Hao Li
- , Praneeth Namburi
- & Kay M. Tye
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Article |
Chronic social isolation signals starvation and reduces sleep in Drosophila
Behavioural and transcriptomic analyses show that chronic social isolation of Drosophila causes perturbed sleep and increased feeding, and induces a starvation-like brain state.
- Wanhe Li
- , Zikun Wang
- & Michael W. Young
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Article |
Dynamical prefrontal population coding during defensive behaviours
Dorsomedial prefrontal cortex represents threat and defensive action initiation, and the dynamic interplay between those representations dictates the temporal evolution of avoidance response to threats.
- Daniel Jercog
- , Nanci Winke
- & Cyril Herry
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Article |
Microbiota regulate social behaviour via stress response neurons in the brain
The gut microbiota in mice can modulate social behaviour by influencing activity in stress-related brain areas.
- Wei-Li Wu
- , Mark D. Adame
- & Sarkis K. Mazmanian
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Article |
Intercalated amygdala clusters orchestrate a switch in fear state
Distinct clusters of inhibitory neurons in the mouse amygdala perform opposing roles in fear extinction.
- Kenta M. Hagihara
- , Olena Bukalo
- & Andrew Holmes
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Article |
Flexible scaling and persistence of social vocal communication
A population of neurons is identified in the lateral preoptic area that can drive the full range of social communication sounds with affective scaling during mating in mice.
- Jingyi Chen
- , Jeffrey E. Markowitz
- & Lisa Stowers
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Article |
Sixteen facial expressions occur in similar contexts worldwide
An analysis of 16 types of facial expression in thousands of contexts in millions of videos revealed fine-grained patterns in human facial expression that are preserved across the modern world.
- Alan S. Cowen
- , Dacher Keltner
- & Gautam Prasad
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Article |
Distinct hypothalamic control of same- and opposite-sex mounting behaviour in mice
Ultrasonic vocalizations of male mice distinguish aggressive, male-directed mounting from reproductive, female-directed mounting behaviours, which are represented by distinct ESR1-expressing populations of neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus and medial preoptic area, respectively.
- Tomomi Karigo
- , Ann Kennedy
- & David J. Anderson
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Article |
Stimulus-specific hypothalamic encoding of a persistent defensive state
Persistent neural activity in the mouse hypothalamus encodes aversive emotional states related to specific threatening stimuli.
- Ann Kennedy
- , Prabhat S. Kunwar
- & David J. Anderson
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Article |
Neural circuits underlying a psychotherapeutic regimen for fear disorders
Bilateral sensory stimulation, which is used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder in humans, alleviates fear memory in mice through a circuit involving the superior colliculus and the medial thalamus.
- Jinhee Baek
- , Sukchan Lee
- & Hee-Sup Shin
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Article |
A circuit from hippocampal CA2 to lateral septum disinhibits social aggression
Pyramidal neurons in the hippocampal CA2 region in mice promote social aggression via a disinhibitory circuit involving the lateral septum and ventromedial hypothalamus.
- Felix Leroy
- , Jung Park
- & Steven A. Siegelbaum
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Letter |
The coding of valence and identity in the mammalian taste system
The identity and hedonic value of tastes are encoded in distinct neural substrates; in mice, the amygdala is necessary and sufficient to drive valence-specific behaviours in response to bitter or sweet taste stimuli, and the cortex can independently represent taste identity.
- Li Wang
- , Sarah Gillis-Smith
- & Charles S. Zuker
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Article |
Encoding of danger by parabrachial CGRP neurons
Single-cell recordings show that CGRP-expressing neurons in the parabrachial nucleus in mice respond to both noxious stimuli and signals of feeding satiety.
- Carlos A. Campos
- , Anna J. Bowen
- & Richard D. Palmiter
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Article |
Ketamine blocks bursting in the lateral habenula to rapidly relieve depression
The rapid antidepressant activity of ketamine results from reversal of increased burst firing and synchronization in the lateral habenula in rat and mouse models of depression.
- Yan Yang
- , Yihui Cui
- & Hailan Hu
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Letter |
A competitive inhibitory circuit for selection of active and passive fear responses
Competitive circuits in the amygdala of mice drive either freezing or flight behaviour in response to threat, and involve distinct neuronal subtypes.
- Jonathan P. Fadok
- , Sabine Krabbe
- & Andreas Lüthi
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Letter |
Serotonin engages an anxiety and fear-promoting circuit in the extended amygdala
A brain circuit is identified through which serotonin induces an anxiety-like state; this circuit also mediates the anxiety-like behaviour induced by acute administration of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine and may underlie the early adverse events that some patients with anxiety disorders have to these types of drugs.
- Catherine A. Marcinkiewcz
- , Christopher M. Mazzone
- & Thomas L. Kash
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Article |
Midbrain circuits for defensive behaviour
A combination of optogenetic, electrophysiological and neuroanatomical tracing methods defines midbrain periaqueductal grey circuits for specific defensive behaviours.
- Philip Tovote
- , Maria Soledad Esposito
- & Andreas Lüthi
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Letter |
Activating positive memory engrams suppresses depression-like behaviour
Acute re-activation of a positive memory engram suppresses depression-like behaviour in mice exposed to chronic stress, mediated by a hippocampus–amygdala–nucleus-accumbens pathway.
- Steve Ramirez
- , Xu Liu
- & Susumu Tonegawa
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Outlook |
Mood disorders: The dark night
The causal relationships between lack of sleep and mood disorders remain murky. But one thing is clear as day: better sleep can have psychological benefits.
- Sarah DeWeerdt
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Letter |
Rapid regulation of depression-related behaviours by control of midbrain dopamine neurons
Optogenetic induction of phasic, but not tonic, firing in VTA dopamine neurons induces susceptibility to stress in mice undergoing a subthreshold social-defeat paradigm and in previously resilient mice that have been subjected to repeated social-defeat stress, and this effect is projection-pathway specific.
- Dipesh Chaudhury
- , Jessica J. Walsh
- & Ming-Hu Han
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Research Highlights |
A smart hub in the brain
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Letter |
Recurrent network activity drives striatal synaptogenesis
Neurotransmitter release and activity are modulated in the striatum of mice to demonstrate that the balance of activity within the two antagonistic, inhibitory pathways co-mingled in this nucleus regulates excitatory innervation of the basal ganglia during development.
- Yevgenia Kozorovitskiy
- , Arpiar Saunders
- & Bernardo L. Sabatini
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Books & Arts |
Neuroscience: Powerful acts
Giovanni Frazzetto explores how theatre exerts its psychological effects on the emotions.
- Giovanni Frazzetto
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Letter |
Temporal dynamics and genetic control of transcription in the human prefrontal cortex
- Carlo Colantuoni
- , Barbara K. Lipska
- & Joel E. Kleinman
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Letter |
Neuronal basis of age-related working memory decline
- Min Wang
- , Nao J. Gamo
- & Amy F. T. Arnsten
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Letter |
Excitatory transmission from the amygdala to nucleus accumbens facilitates reward seeking
- Garret D. Stuber
- , Dennis R. Sparta
- & Antonello Bonci
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Letter |
City living and urban upbringing affect neural social stress processing in humans
- Florian Lederbogen
- , Peter Kirsch
- & Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg
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Books & Arts |
Neuroscience: What makes us laugh
Humour is the brain's reward for discovering unexpected errors, says Appletree Rodden.
- Appletree Rodden
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Letter |
Neuropsin cleaves EphB2 in the amygdala to control anxiety
- Benjamin K. Attwood
- , Julie-Myrtille Bourgognon
- & Robert Pawlak
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Letter |
Distinct representations of olfactory information in different cortical centres
- Dara L. Sosulski
- , Maria Lissitsyna Bloom
- & Sandeep Robert Datta
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Letter |
Amygdala circuitry mediating reversible and bidirectional control of anxiety
The amygdala, a brain region important for learning fearful memories, is thought to have a role in generalized anxiety, but the critical subregions and connections are unknown. This paper shows that optogenetic stimulation of basolateral amygdala (BLA) terminals in the central nucleus of the amygdala of rats with channelrhodopsin has an anxiolytic effect, whereas inhibition of the same projection with eNpHR3.0 increases anxiety related behaviours. These effects were not observed with direct optogenetic control of BLA somata themselves, indicating that selective activation of certain connections can have different effects.
- Kay M. Tye
- , Rohit Prakash
- & Karl Deisseroth
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Research Highlights |
Omega-3s affect brain signalling
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Research Highlights |
Ringing in the brain
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News |
Amygdala at the centre of your social network
A larger emotion-processing brain centre is linked to a bigger circle of friends.
- Janelle Weaver
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Article |
Encoding of conditioned fear in central amygdala inhibitory circuits
The central amygdala relies on inhibitory circuitry to encode fear memories, but how this information is acquired and expressed in these connections is unknown. Two new papers use a combination of cutting-edge technologies to reveal two distinct microcircuits within the central amygdala, one required for fear acquisition and the other critical for conditioned fear responses. Understanding this architecture provides a strong link between activity in a specific circuit and particular behavioural consequences.
- Stephane Ciocchi
- , Cyril Herry
- & Andreas Lüthi
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Muse |
Music on the brain
The emotions teeming inside the works of the Romantic composers may have neurological explanations, as a recent meeting explored. Philip Ball tuned in.
- Philip Ball
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Column |
The price of happiness
Whether money can bring contentment depends on your definition of 'happy', says Philip Ball.
- Philip Ball
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News |
Mouse pain study stirs debate
Canadian scientists vindicated after being accused of mistreating laboratory animals.
- Janelle Weaver
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Research Highlights |
Neuroscience: Instant learning
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Letter |
Impaired hippocampal–prefrontal synchrony in a genetic mouse model of schizophrenia
A deletion on human chromosome 22 (22q11.2) is one of the largest genetic risk factors for schizophrenia. Mice with a corresponding deletion have problems with working memory, one feature of schizophrenia. It is now found that these mice also show disruptions in synchronous firing between neurons of the prefrontal cortex and of the hippocampus, an electrophysiological phenomenon that has been linked to learning and memory and which is also thought to be disrupted in schizophrenia patients.
- Torfi Sigurdsson
- , Kimberly L. Stark
- & Joshua A. Gordon
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Column |
Does a minor key give everyone the blues?
Can a link between speech patterns and downbeat music prove that minor keys are intrinsically sad, asks Philip Ball?
- Philip Ball
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News & Views |
Editing out fear
Retrieving a memory initiates a window of vulnerability for that memory. Simple behavioural methods can modify distressing memories during this window, eliminating fear reactions to traumatic reminders.
- Gregory J. Quirk
- & Mohammed R. Milad
A distinct cortical code for socially learned threat