Control of Behavioral Arousal and Defense by a Glutamatergic Midbrain-Amygdala Pathway in Mice

VTA (Ventral tegmental area) MBA:749 functionally connects to CEA (Central amygdalar nucleus) MBA:536 · Mouse

Blue-light stimulation of ChR2-expressing VTA glutamatergic axon terminals in the CeA raised c-Fos expression in CeA neurons relative to unstimulated controls, and the same terminal stimulation drove rapid, frequency-dependent NREM-to-wake transitions and sustained wakefulness, indicating a functional driving input from VTA glutamatergic neurons to the CeA.

Fig. 4C,D; Fig. 5B-F

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

VTA (Ventral tegmental area) MBA:749 projects to CEA (Central amygdalar nucleus) MBA:536 · Mouse

Cre-dependent ChR2-mCherry injected into the VTA of Vglut2-Cre mice labelled cell bodies in the VTA and axon terminals in the central nucleus of the amygdala, showing that VTA glutamatergic neurons send axons to the CeA.

Fig. 4A,B

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