Neuropeptide Y neurons in the basolateral amygdala project to the nucleus accumbens and stimulate high-fat intake

BLA (Basolateral amygdalar nucleus) MBA:295 projects to ACB (Nucleus accumbens) MBA:56 · Mouse

Retrograde AAV (AAV-retro-FLEX-mCherry) injected into the nucleus accumbens of NPY-Cre mice labelled numerous mCherry-positive somata in the basolateral amygdala, with more labelled cells in the posterior than anterior BLA; double staining showed most labelled cells were NPY-immunoreactive.

Fig. 1C–E; Results 3.1

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BLA (Basolateral amygdalar nucleus) MBA:295 projects to ACB (Nucleus accumbens) MBA:56 · Mouse

Cre-dependent anterograde AAV expressing membrane GFP and synaptophysin-mRuby injected into the BLA of NPY-Cre mice labelled fibres in the medial nucleus accumbens, covering both shell and core.

Fig. 2B,C; Results 3.2

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CLA (Claustrum) MBA:583 projects to ACB (Nucleus accumbens) MBA:56 · Mouse

The same retrograde AAV injection in the nucleus accumbens of NPY-Cre mice produced a small number of labelled cell bodies spread through the claustrum.

Results 3.1; Supplementary Fig. 2A,B

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ARH (Arcuate hypothalamic nucleus) MBA:223 projects to ACB (Nucleus accumbens) MBA:56 · Mouse

Despite abundant NPY-expressing cells in the arcuate hypothalamic nucleus, no retrogradely labelled mCherry-positive somata were found there after accumbens injection of the retrograde Cre-dependent AAV.

Results 3.1; Supplementary Fig. 2C

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BLA (Basolateral amygdalar nucleus) MBA:295 projects to ACA (Anterior cingulate area) MBA:31 · Mouse

Anterograde Cre-dependent labelling of BLA NPY neurons also revealed GFP-positive axons in the anterior cingulate cortex.

Fig. 2C; Results 3.2

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BLA (Basolateral amygdalar nucleus) MBA:295 functionally connects to ACB (Nucleus accumbens) MBA:56 · Mouse

Optogenetic silencing (eNpHR3, green light) of BLA NPY axon terminals in the accumbens reduced the number of c-Fos-positive accumbens neurons compared with GFP controls, while blue-light activation of ChR2-expressing BLA NPY terminals tended to raise accumbens c-Fos on the stimulated side; accompanying pharmacology showed accumbens Y1 receptors mediate the behavioural effect.

Supplementary Fig. 3; Results 3.3, 3.4

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