Linking emotional valence and anxiety in a mouse insula-amygdala circuit

Celine Nicolas (1) , Anes Ju (1) , Yifan Wu (1) , Hazim Eldirdiri (1) , Sebastien Delcasso (1) , Yoni Couderc (1) , Claudia Fornari (1) , Arojit Mitra (1) , Laura Supiot (1) , Adrien Vérité (1) , Maxime Masson (1) , S. Rodriguez-Rozada (2) , Debora Jacky (1) , J.S. Wiegert (2) , Anna Beyeler (1)

1 U1215 Inserm - UB - Neurocentre Magendie : Physiopathologie de la Plasticité Neuronale
2 UKE - Universitaetsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf = University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf [Hamburg]

Responses of the insular cortex (IC) and amygdala to stimuli of positive and negative valence are altered in patients with anxiety disorders. However, neural coding of both anxiety and valence by IC neurons remains unknown. Using fiber photometry recordings in mice, we uncover a selective increase of activity in IC projection neurons of the anterior (aIC), but not posterior (pIC) section, when animals are exploring anxiogenic spaces, and this activity is proportional to the level of anxiety of mice. Neurons in aIC also respond to stimuli of positive and negative valence, and the strength of response to strong negative stimuli is proportional to mice levels of anxiety. Using ex vivo electrophysiology, we characterized the IC connection to the basolateral amygdala (BLA), and employed projection-specific optogenetics to reveal anxiogenic properties of aIC-BLA neurons. Finally, we identified that aIC-BLA neurons are activated in anxiogenic spaces, as well as in response to aversive stimuli, and that both activities are positively correlated. Altogether, we identified a common neurobiological substrate linking negative valence with anxiety-related information and behaviors, which provides a starting point to understand how alterations of these neural populations contribute to psychiatric disorders. © 2023, Springer Nature Limited.

Mots clés: Amygdala; Animals; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Emotions; Insular Cortex; Mice

Domaines: Neurosciences [q-bio.NC]

Celine Nicolas, Anes Ju, Yifan Wu, Hazim Eldirdiri, Sebastien Delcasso, et al.. Linking emotional valence and anxiety in a mouse insula-amygdala circuit. Nature Communications, 2023, 14 (1), pp.5073. ⟨10.1038/s41467-023-40517-1⟩. ⟨hal-04526294⟩