ArticleNature communications2022
Midbrain projection to the basolateral amygdala encodes anxiety-like but not depression-like behaviors.
Article in Nature communications, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 98 papers.
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Who cites it
98 citing papers in PubMed, 168 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Vagal sensing of altered gut microbiota links to externalizing behaviors.Gut microbes · 2026Article
- A novel composite model of PTSD induced by social bullying: validation via multidimensional behavioral and molecular biomarkers.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Acute Stress Drives Adaptive Anxiety via Excitatory-Inhibitory Imbalance in the Prefrontal-Amygdala Circuit in Male Mice.Neuroscience bulletin · 2026Article
- YTHDF1 modulates CAP1-mediated actin turnover to regulate synaptic function and anxiodepressive-like behaviors.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Unveiling the enigma of anxiety disorders and depression: from pathogenesis to treatment.Science China. Life sciences · 2026Review
- Predicting comorbid anxiety in adolescents with major depressive disorder: an EEG-based machine learning approach with SHAP interpretability.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Basolateral amygdala dopamine transmits emotional salience.Nature communications · 2026Article
- A discrete serotonergic circuit involved in the generation of tinnitus behavior.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- CCK2R regulates METH-induced CPP acquisition within VTA-BLA-BNST circuit in male mice.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Stress History Modulates Corticotropin-Releasing Factor Neurons to Establish Resilience.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2026Article
- The Rostral Ventrolateral Medulla Input to Central Amygdala Regulates Anxiety-Like Behaviors in Mice for Chronic Light Exposure.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026Article
- The Role of the Ventral Tegmental Area in Reward and Addiction: A Comprehensive Review.Neurosciences (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) · 2026Review
- ATP Release Deficiency through Astrocytic Connexin 43 in the Dorsal Hippocampus Promotes Depressive- and Anxiety-Like Behaviors.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- Non-motor correlates of anxiety inFrontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Intracisternal IGF-1 gene delivery attenuates early anxiety-like behavior but not dopaminergic neurodegeneration in a 6-OHDA rat model of parkinsonism.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2026Article
- Mechanisms of interaction between type 2 diabetes and psychological disorders and therapeutic interventions: a narrative review.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
- Exendin-4 enhances GLP-1 signaling and reduces anxiety-like behaviors in male heroin withdrawal mice.PloS one · 2026Article
- Site-specific noninvasive delivery of retrograde viral vectors to the brain.Bioengineering & translational medicine · 2026Article
38 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
16 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Anxiety disorders are complex diseases, and often co-occur with depression. It is as yet unclear if a common neural circuit controls anxiety-related behaviors in both anxiety-alone and comorbid conditions. Here, utilizing the chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) paradigm that induces singular or combined anxiety- and depressive-like phenotypes in mice, we show that a ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine circuit projecting to the basolateral amygdala (BLA) selectively controls anxiety- but not depression-like behaviors. Using circuit-dissecting ex vivo electrophysiology and in vivo fiber photometry approaches, we establish that expression of anxiety-like, but not depressive-like, phenotypes are negatively correlated with VTA → BLA dopamine neuron activity. Further, our optogenetic studies demonstrate a causal link between such neuronal activity and anxiety-like behaviors. Overall, these data establish a functional role for VTA → BLA dopamine neurons in bi-directionally controlling anxiety-related behaviors not only in anxiety-alone, but also in anxiety-depressive comorbid conditions in mice.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.