BLA DBS improves anxiety and fear by correcting weakened synaptic transmission from BLA to adBNST and CeL in a mouse model of foot shock
Yan Gao,
Dawen Gao,
Hui Zhang,
Danhao Zheng,
Jun Du,
Chao Yuan,
Mingxi Ma,
Yao Yin,
Jie Wang,
Xiaohui Zhang,
Yizheng Wang
Affiliations
Yan Gao
Center of Cognition and Brain Science, Beijing Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
Dawen Gao
Center of Cognition and Brain Science, Beijing Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
Hui Zhang
Center of Cognition and Brain Science, Beijing Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
Danhao Zheng
Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems, State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, National Center for Magnetic Resonance in Wuhan, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences-Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Wuhan 430071, China
Jun Du
Center of Cognition and Brain Science, Beijing Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
Chao Yuan
Center of Cognition and Brain Science, Beijing Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
Mingxi Ma
Center of Cognition and Brain Science, Beijing Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
Yao Yin
Center of Cognition and Brain Science, Beijing Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
Jie Wang
Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems, State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, National Center for Magnetic Resonance in Wuhan, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences-Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Wuhan 430071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Xiaohui Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience & Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
Yizheng Wang
Center of Cognition and Brain Science, Beijing Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing, China; National Clinical Research Center for Aging and Medicine, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; Corresponding author
Summary: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the basal lateral amygdala (BLA) has been established to correct symptoms of refractory post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, how BLA DBS operates in correcting PTSD symptoms and how the BLA elicits pathological fear and anxiety in PTSD remain unclear. Here, we discover that excitatory synaptic transmission from the BLA projection neurons (PNs) to the adBNST, and lateral central amygdala (CeL) is greatly suppressed in a mouse PTSD model induced by foot shock (FS). BLA DBS revises the weakened inputs from the BLA to these two areas to improve fear and anxiety. Optogenetic manipulation of the BLA-adBNST and BLA-CeL circuits shows that both circuits are responsible for anxiety but the BLA-CeL for fear in FS mice. Our results reveal that synaptic transmission dysregulation of the BLA-adBNST or BLA-CeL circuits is reversed by BLA DBS, which improves anxiety and fear in the FS mouse model.
