A prefrontal-bed nucleus of the stria terminalis circuit limits fear to uncertain threat

The role of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in learning to fear.

Ventromedial prefrontal cortex damage alters resting blood flow to the bed nucleus of stria terminalis.

The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) plays a key role in modulating emotional responses, yet the precise neural mechanisms underlying this function remain unclear. vmPFC interacts with a number of subcortical structures involved in affective processing, including the amygdala, hypothalamus, periaqueductal gray, ventral striatum, and bed nucleus of stria terminalis (BNST). While a previous...

Allopregnanolone in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis modulates contextual fear in rats

Trauma- and stress-related disorders are among the most common types of mental illness affecting the U.S. population. For many of these disorders, there is a striking sex difference in lifetime prevalence; for instance, women are twice as likely as men to be affected by posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Gonadal steroids and their metabolites have been implicated in sex differences in fear a...

The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis mediates inter-individual variations in anxiety and fear.

While learning to fear stimuli that predict danger promotes survival, the inability to inhibit fear to inappropriate cues leads to a pernicious cycle of avoidance behaviors. Previous studies have revealed large inter-individual variations in fear responding with clinically anxious humans exhibiting a tendency to generalize learned fear to safe stimuli or situations. To shed light on the origin ...

Human bed nucleus of the stria terminalis indexes hypervigilant threat monitoring.

BACKGROUND Though a key symptom underlying many anxiety disorders is hypervigilant threat monitoring, its biological bases in humans remain poorly understood. Animal models suggest that anxious processes such as hypervigilant threat monitoring are distinct from cued fear-like responses and mediated by the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST). Here, we applied psychophysiological and neuro...