Genetically- and spatially-defined basolateral amygdala neurons control food consumption and social interaction

• Published in: Nature communications 2024-08, Vol.15 (1), p.6868-22, Article 6868
• Main Authors: Lim, Hansol, Zhang, Yue, Peters, Christian, Straub, Tobias, Mayer, Johanna Luise, Klein, Rüdiger
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 13/44; 14/10; 14/19; 38/32; 45/91; 49/39; 631/378/1457/1284; 631/378/1488; 631/378/340; 631/378/3919; 631/378/3920; 64/110; 82/51; Amygdala; Animals; Basolateral Nuclear Complex - physiology; Circuits; Clusters; Eating - physiology; Emotional behavior; Fear - physiology; Food consumption; Glutamatergic transmission; Humanities and Social Sciences; Information processing; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; multidisciplinary; Neurons; Neurons - metabolism; Neurons - physiology; Populations; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Social behavior; Social discrimination learning; Social Interaction; Social interactions; Spatial discrimination learning; Subpopulations
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-50889-7

The basolateral amygdala (BLA) contains discrete neuronal circuits that integrate positive or negative emotional information and drive the appropriate innate and learned behaviors. Whether these circuits consist of genetically-identifiable and anatomically segregated neuron types, is poorly understood. Also, our understanding of the response patterns and behavioral spectra of genetically-identifiable BLA neurons is limited. Here, we classified 11 glutamatergic cell clusters in mouse BLA and found that several of them were anatomically segregated in lateral versus basal amygdala, and anterior versus posterior regions of the BLA. Two of these BLA subpopulations innately responded to valence-specific, whereas one responded to mixed - aversive and social - cues. Positive-valence BLA neurons promoted normal feeding, while mixed selectivity neurons promoted fear learning and social interactions. These findings enhance our understanding of cell type diversity and spatial organization of the BLA and the role of distinct BLA populations in representing valence-specific and mixed stimuli. The molecular diversity and spatial organization of the mouse basolateral amygdala are unclear. Here, the authors classify 11 glutamatergic cell clusters and describe the roles of distinct neuron populations in different valence-specific behaviors.