In the last years research on emotion focused on the role of amygdala-orbitofrontal loops in learning associations between internal states of the organism and external context, and in modulating choice behaviour. Amygdala is now thought to participate actively in current reward value-response learning. Furthermore, amygdala seems to act as an effector of choice behaviour elaboration in orbitofr...

Objective(s): Central nucleus of amygdala (CeA) is the most important region for morphine-induced reward, and GABAergic system plays an important role on morphine reinforcement. The influence of CeA administration of GABAB receptor agonist and antagonist on the expression and acquisition of morphine-induced incentive tolerance using conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm was investigated i...

Visually guided movement is possible in the absence of conscious visual perception, a phenomenon referred to as "blindsight." Similarly, fearful images can elicit emotional responses in the absence of their conscious perception. Both capabilities are thought to be mediated by pathways from the retina through the superior colliculus (SC) and pulvinar nucleus. To define potential pathways that un...

It has been suggested that an opioidergic feeding pathway exists between the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) and the central nucleus of the amygdala. We studied the following three groups of rats: 1) artificial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) infused in the NTS, 2) naltrexone (100 microg/day) infused for 13 days in the NTS, and 3) artificial CSF infused in the NTS of rats pair fed to the naltrexo...

Drug abuse and dependence have progressively become a dramatic problem in human societies. Since the exact mechanism(s) of the effect of related drugs in the brain has not been explored, therefore, this problem has not been resolved yet. Several lines of evidence indicated that nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role in the process of drug dependence. The role of NO within the different regio...

The afferent projections to the primate amygdala were studied using horseradish peroxidase. The potential advantages of this technique are discussed compared with those previously used to determine amygdaloid afferents. The findings indicate that certain agranular or dysgranular cortical regions may project directly to the amygdala: in particular, the orbital frontal cortex, anterior cingulate ...