1. An extended amygdala-midbrain circuit controlling cocaine withdrawal-induced anxiety and reinstatement
- Author
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Tian, Guilian, Hui, May, Macchia, Desiree, Derdeyn, Pieter, Rogers, Alexandra, Hubbard, Elizabeth, Liu, Chengfeng, Vasquez, Jose J, Taniguchi, Lara, Bartas, Katrina, Carroll, Sean, and Beier, Kevin T
- Subjects
Biological Sciences ,Substance Misuse ,Behavioral and Social Science ,Basic Behavioral and Social Science ,Neurosciences ,Drug Abuse (NIDA only) ,2.1 Biological and endogenous factors ,Mental health ,Good Health and Well Being ,Amygdala ,Anxiety ,Cocaine ,Cocaine-Related Disorders ,Dopamine ,Humans ,Ventral Tegmental Area ,CP: Neuroscience ,addiction ,anxiety ,calcium imaging ,chemogenetics ,cocaine withdrawal ,dopamine ,extended amygdala ,rabies circuit mapping ,reinstatement ,Biochemistry and Cell Biology ,Medical Physiology ,Biological sciences - Abstract
Although midbrain dopamine (DA) circuits are central to motivated behaviors, our knowledge of how experience modifies these circuits to facilitate subsequent behavioral adaptations is limited. Here we demonstrate the selective role of a ventral tegmental area DA projection to the amygdala (VTADA→amygdala) for cocaine-induced anxiety but not cocaine reward or sensitization. Our rabies virus-mediated circuit mapping approach reveals a persistent elevation in spontaneous and task-related activity of inhibitory GABAergic cells from the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and downstream VTADA→amygdala cells that can be detected even after a single cocaine exposure. Activity in BNSTGABA→midbrain cells is related to cocaine-induced anxiety but not reward or sensitization, and silencing this projection prevents development of anxiety during protracted withdrawal after cocaine administration. Finally, we observe that VTADA→amygdala cells are strongly activated after a challenge exposure to cocaine and that activity in these cells is necessary and sufficient for reinstatement of cocaine place preference.
- Published
- 2022