The delta opioid receptor agonist KNT‐127 relieves innate anxiety‐like behavior in mice by suppressing transmission from the prelimbic cortex to basolateral amygdala

PL (Prelimbic area) MBA:972 functionally connects to BLA (Basolateral amygdalar nucleus) MBA:295 · Mouse

ChR2 was expressed in CaMKIIa-positive PL neurons by AAV injection and an LED fiber was placed in the BLA so that PL axon terminals there could be photostimulated. Light delivery in ChR2 mice, but not YFP controls, reduced open-arm time and entries in the elevated plus maze and center time in the open field, and this anxiogenic effect was reversed by the delta-opioid agonist KNT-127, indicating a functional PL-to-BLA pathway. Activation of the same pathway did not change contextual freezing. Note the readout was behavior rather than recorded BLA activity.

Figures 1B–F and 2A; Results

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