Researchers report projections from glutamatergic neurons in the basolateral amygdala (BLA), a brain region involved in emotion processing, to glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and increased excitability of these BLA neurons in a mouse model of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) compared with control mice; manipulating the activity of BLA and mPFC neurons in this circuit altered OCD-like checking behavior, suggesting a possible pathophysiology for OCD.
Article #18-14292: "Basolateral amygdala input to the medial prefrontal cortex controls obsessive-compulsive disorder-like checking behavior," by Tingting Sun et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Zhi Zhang, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, CHINA; tel: +86-55163602715, +86-55163607995; e-mail: zhizhang@ustc.edu.cn
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Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences