Neuronal projections from the lateral neocortex to the amygdala

KRAVITZ, ALEXXAI V; DE LA FUENTE, VERÓNICA

Mar del Plata, Pcia de Buenos Aires

Congreso; XXXII Congress of the Argentine Society for Research in Neuroscience; 2017

SAN

Cognitive function is a product of the concerted and synchronized activity of many brainareas with a proposed hierarchical relation. Previous results indicated that the lateralneocortex is necessary for contextual fear memory reconsolidation and suggested afunctional connection with the amygdala, a key structure for processing emotionalinformation. To further investigate the synaptic connections between these areas, we firstused an optogenetic-based strategy in which we expressed the light-activated cation channelrhodopsin in the lateral neocortex on the left side of the brain and implanted an electrodearray plus optic fiber in the amygdala in this hemisphere. We observed changes in amygdalarlocal field potential upon light stimulation in almost half of the electrodes. Furthermore, weperformed paired-pulse stimulation and found a deflection of the paired pulse ratio whendiminishing the pulse delay, indicating monosynaptic connectivity. To evaluate the possibilityof a direct morphological connection between the areas we performed retrograde labelingstudies. Overall, our results support a monosynaptic connection between the lateralneocortex and amygdala.