Fig. 4: Optogenetic activation of aBLA→dBNST and pBLA→dBNST pathways oppositely regulates the anxiety-like behaviors in mice.

a, Experimental procedures for investigating the effect of optogenetic activation of aBLA→dBNST pathway on mice’s anxiety-like behaviors. OFT, open field test, EPM, elevated plus maze. b, Schematic showing injection of AAV vectors encoding EYFP or ChR2 into aBLA and implantation of optical cannula onto dBNST for optogenetic manipulations. c, Left: Representative image showing the axonal terminals from aBLA PNs in dBNST. The positioning of optical fiber was marked with the dashed lines. Right: ChR2 expression in aBLA PNs. This experiment was repeated 11 times with similar results. d, Representative activity tracking across epochs in OFT for a mouse expressing ChR2 in aBLA. The designated center zone was marked with dashed lines. e, Summary of the time in center and total distance travelled before, during and after light stimulation of the EYFP- or ChR2-expressing aBLA inputs. Data from individual mice were shown in light colors. n = 10 (EYFP), 11 (ChR2) mice. **p < 0.01, two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s multiple comparisons test. f, Representative activity tracking across epochs in EPM for a mouse expressing ChR2 in aBLA. g, Summary of the time in open arms and open-arm entries measured before, during and after light stimulation of the EYFP- or ChR2-expressing aBLA inputs. Data from individual mice were shown in light colors. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s multiple comparisons test. h–n, same as in (a–g), except that EYFP or ChR2 was expressed in the pBLA PNs. n = 9 (EYFP), 10 (ChR2) mice. *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001, two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s multiple comparisons test. All data shown as means ± s.e.m. Source data including statistics are provided as a Source Date file.