Amygdala circuits underlying valence-specific behaviors

Threatening and rewarding stimuli evoke a set of distinct stereotyped behaviors, which can be categorized as negative and positive valence-related behaviors, respectively. The stereotypic nature of negative and positive valence-related behaviors suggests that threatening and rewarding stimuli engage evolutionarily predetermined neural circuits in the brain. The amygdala is an important mammalian brain region that is activated by negative and positive stimuli and mediates negative and positive valence-related behaviors. The current prevailing circuit model of the amygdala mainly considers negative behaviors and only recently has cell-type specific models have been proposed. Hence, the substrates, genetically distinct neuronal populations, for negative and positive behaviors are not known. The work presented here describes a genetically-defined amygdala circuit model for negative and positive behaviors. Development of a genetic-based circuit model of the amygdala revealed anatomical and genetic circuit motifs that underlie that amygdala circuits that mediate valence-specific behaviors.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Kim, Joshua

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Susumu Tonegawa.

• Biology.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/117881

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/117881