Author Interviews, Neurological Disorders / 23.03.2017
Reward Circuit in Brain Localized To Central Amygdala
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Joshua Kim, researcher
RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Biology and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA 02139
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: We previously identified to populations of neurons in a structure known as the basolateral amygdala, one that is capable of mediated fear-related behaviors and the other reward-related behaviors. Both of these basolateral amygdala populations send projections to a structure known as the central amygdala.
For this study, we wanted to examine the function of 7 different populations of central amygdala neurons in regard to fear-related and reward-related function and how each of these 7 populations are connected to the 2 basolateral amygdala populations.
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