title: Active avoidance requires a serial basal amygdala to nucleus accumbens shell circuit.
abstract: Freezing is a species-typical defensive reaction to conditioned threats. While the neural circuitry of aversive Pavlovian behavior has been extensively studied, less is known about the circuitry underlying more active responses to danger. Here we show that the flow of information between the basal amygdala (BA) and the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) is necessary for signaled active avoidance behavior. Rats trained to avoid shock by shuttling during an auditory conditioned stimulus showed increased expression of the activity-dependent protein c-Fos in the NAcc, specifically the shell subregion (NAccSh). Silencing neural activity in the NAccSh, but not in the adjacent NAcc core, disrupted avoidance behavior. Disconnection of the BA and the NAccSh was just as effective at disrupting avoidance behavior as bilateral NAccSh inactivations, suggesting learned avoidance behavior requires an intact BA-NAccSh circuit. Together, these data highlight an essential role for the amygdalar projection to the ventral striatum in aversively motivated actions.
authors.affiliation: Center for Neural Science, Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, and.
authors.forename: Franchesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ramirez
authors.affiliation: Center for Neural Science.
authors.forename: Justin M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Moscarello
authors.affiliation: Center for Neural Science, Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, and Emotional Brain Institute, Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, New York 10962.
authors.forename: Joseph E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: LeDoux
authors.affiliation: Center for Neural Science, robert.sears@nyu.edu.
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Sears
mesh_terms: D000679:Amygdala / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D005239:Fear; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos
keywords: aversive; fear conditioning; motivation; negative reinforcement; two-way signaled active avoidance