| First Author | Cui Y | Year | 2017 |
| Journal | Cell Rep | Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 7 | Pages | 1770-1782 |
| PubMed ID | 29141212 | Mgi Jnum | J:254207 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6104193 | Doi | 10.1016/j.celrep.2017.10.062 |
| Citation | Cui Y, et al. (2017) A Central Amygdala-Substantia Innominata Neural Circuitry Encodes Aversive Reinforcement Signals. Cell Rep 21(7):1770-1782 |
| abstractText | Aversive stimuli can impact motivation and support associative learning as reinforcers. However, the neural circuitry underlying the processing of aversive reinforcers has not been elucidated. Here, we report that a subpopulation of central amygdala (CeA) GABAergic neurons expressing protein kinase C-delta (PKC-delta+) displays robust responses to aversive stimuli during negative reinforcement learning. Importantly, projections from PKC-delta+ neurons of the CeA to the substantia innominata (SI) could bi-directionally modulate negative reinforcement learning. Moreover, consistent with the idea that SI-projecting PKC-delta+ neurons of the CeA encode aversive information, optogenetic activation of this pathway produces conditioned place aversion, a behavior prevented by simultaneous ablating of SI glutamatergic neurons. Taken together, our data define a cell-type-specific neural circuitry modulating associative learning by encoding aversive reinforcement signals. |
