Topic: amygdalar-accumbens pathway

Dysregulations of the fear responses can lead to anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While exposure therapy (or extinction in rodents) can significantly reduce the fear-associated symptoms, its effectiveness is limited with fear recovering spontaneously over time. While the activation of the amygdala is central for normal fear-related behavior, its hyperactivation may be at the core of pathological conditions including PTSD. Previous (including ours) studies using the TetTag technology showed that a subset of basal amygdala (BA) neurons activated during contextual