clm-s0jfhp0j0m

VTA (Ventral tegmental area) projects to BLA (Basolateral amygdalar nucleus)

Species: Mouse
Result: present
Method: retrograde tracer
Sign: modulatory
Evidence: Green retrobeads or retrogradely transported AAV vectors (AAVrg-hSyn-EGFP, AAVrg-Ef1a-DIO-EYFP, AAVrg-CMV-eGFP-Cre) injected into the BLA labelled cell bodies in the VTA, which were then recorded and manipulated as VTA→BLA neurons. In TH-BAC-Cre mice the Cre-dependent retrograde vectors labelled dopaminergic VTA cells, and 87% of the retrogradely defined VTA→BLA GCaMP6-expressing neurons co-labelled for tyrosine hydroxylase (3–4 sections from 3 mice), indicating a largely dopaminergic projection.
Source: Midbrain projection to the basolateral amygdala encodes anxiety-like but not depression-like behaviors
Nature Communications, 2022
DOI 10.1038/s41467-022-29155-1 · PubMed 35318315 · PMC8940900, Fig. 2a–d; Fig. 3b, c; Supplementary Fig. 3a–d; Methods (viral and tracing strategies)
Licence: CC-BY-4.0
Named in the paper: “VTA” and “BLA”
Made by: an AI model reading the paper (claude-opus-5, extract@0.3.0), 2026-10-09
Checked by: a second AI model (claude-opus-5) agrees, 2026-10-09
“Retrobeads and retrograde AAVs in BLA labelled VTA neurons, and the 87% TH colocalization from 3 mice matches the paper's figure legend.”
Status: proposed
Drafted and checked by AI models; it stays proposed until people have audited a sample of such claims.