The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the basolateral amygdala (BLA) have strong reciprocal connectivity. Projections from the BLA to the mPFC can bidirectionally modulate anxiety-related behaviors but it is unclear if the same is true for mPFC to BLA projections. Our laboratory is specifically interested in withdrawal-related anxiety-like behavior and the underlying synaptic plasticity. Here, we use optogenetics and chemogenetics to characterize the neurophysiological and behavioral

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... ns produced by chronic ethanol exposure and withdrawal on dorsal mPFC/prelimbic (dmPFC/PL) and ventral mPFC (vmPFC/IL) terminals in the BLA. We exposed adult male Sprague-Dawley rats to chronic intermittent ethanol (CIE) using vapor chambers, measured anxiety-like behavior on the elevated zero maze (EZM), and used electrophysiology to record glutamatergic and GABAergic responses in BLA principal neurons. We found that 24-hour withdrawal following a 7-day CIE exposure significantly increased the glutamate release probability from PL/dmPFC terminals, but significantly decreases the glutamate release probability from IL/vmPFC terminals. Chemogenetic inhibition of PL/dmPFC terminals in the BLA attenuated the increased withdrawal-dependent, anxiety-like behavior. These data demonstrate that chronic ethanol exposure and withdrawal strengthens the PL/dmPFC-BLA pathway but weakens the IL/vmPFC-BLA pathway. Moreover, we provide novel evidence that the PL/dmPFC-BLA pathway can modulate anxiety-like behavior. These findings suggest that mPFC-BLA circuits known to regulate the acquisition of aversive behaviors are up-regulated by chronic ethanol while those involved with the extinction of these behaviors are down-regulated.