Divergent projections of the prelimbic cortex mediate autism- and anxiety-like behaviors

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

Light activation of ChR2-expressing prelimbic glutamatergic terminals in the BLA reduced centre and open-arm exploration, while NpHR-mediated silencing of the same terminals relieved anxiety-like behaviour in Tmem74-/- mice, without effects on grooming or social novelty.

Supplementary Figs. 6 and 7

Made by an AI model reading the paper (claude-opus-5, extract@0.3.0); a second AI model (claude-opus-5) agrees.

PL (Prelimbic area) MBA:972 projects to CP (Caudoputamen) MBA:672 · Mouse

After injecting a CaMKIIα-driven EGFP AAV into the prelimbic cortex, labelled axons were abundant in the dorsal striatum.

Fig. 4a

Made by an AI model reading the paper (claude-opus-5, extract@0.3.0); a second AI model (claude-opus-5) agrees.

PL (Prelimbic area) MBA:972 functionally connects to CP (Caudoputamen) MBA:672 · Mouse

ChR2 expressed in prelimbic CaMKIIα neurons and blue-light stimulation of their terminals in the dorsal striatum increased grooming and produced social novelty deficits without affecting open-field anxiety measures; optogenetic silencing of the same terminals rescued these behaviours in Tmem74-/- mice, indicating a functional glutamatergic PL to dorsal striatum projection.

Fig. 4c–g; Supplementary Fig. 4

Made by an AI model reading the paper (claude-opus-5, extract@0.3.0); a second AI model (claude-opus-5) agrees.

PL (Prelimbic area) MBA:972 projects to CP (Caudoputamen) MBA:672 · Mouse

Retrograde AAV2-Retro-DIO-EGFP injected in the dorsal striatum of CaMKIIα-Cre mice labelled pyramidal neurons in the prelimbic cortex; these cells lay more laterally than BLA-projecting cells and overlapped only minimally with them.

Fig. 5a–f

Made by an AI model reading the paper (claude-opus-5, extract@0.3.0); a second AI model (claude-opus-5) agrees.

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

CaMKIIα-EGFP AAV injected into the prelimbic cortex produced green-labelled fibres surrounding neuronal somata in the basolateral amygdala, many of which were CaMKIIα-positive.

Supplementary Fig. 5a–c

Made by an AI model reading the paper (claude-opus-5, extract@0.3.0); a second AI model (claude-opus-5) agrees.

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

Retrograde AAV2-Retro-DIO-mCherry injected in the BLA of CaMKIIα-Cre mice labelled a separate, more medially positioned population of prelimbic pyramidal neurons, of similar density to the striatum-projecting population and with only ~3.56% overlap.

Fig. 5a–f

Made by an AI model reading the paper (claude-opus-5, extract@0.3.0); a second AI model (claude-opus-5) agrees.

PL (Prelimbic area) MBA:972 functionally connects to BLA glutamatergic principal neurons nt-wprma5fcrr · Mouse

In slices where the PL-to-BLA pathway was preserved, BLA pyramidal neurons of sgTmem74 mice fired more action potentials; this hyperexcitability disappeared in slices in which the PL-BLA connection was severed, implying functional excitatory drive from PL onto BLA pyramidal neurons.

Supplementary Fig. 5d–j

Made by an AI model reading the paper (claude-opus-5, extract@0.3.0); a second AI model (claude-opus-5) disagrees. “The evidence was slice preparation preserving versus severing the pathway with whole-cell recording, not electrical stimulation.”