Dopaminergic Modulation of Lateral Amygdala Neuronal Activity: Differential D1 and D2 Receptor Effects on Thalamic and Cortical Afferent Inputs

摘要

Background:In auditory fear conditioning, the lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA) integrates a conditioned stimulus (CS) from the auditory thalamus (MGN) and the auditory association cortex (Te3) with an aversive unconditioned stimulus. The thalamic input provides a basic version of the CS, while the cortical input provides a processed representation of the stimulus. Dopamine (DA) is released in the LA under heightened arousal during the presentation of the CS.