Ewelina Knapska, Victoria Lioudyno, Anna Kiryk, Marta Mikosz, Tomasz Górkiewicz, Piotr Michaluk, Maciej Gawlak, Mayank Chaturvedi, Gabriela Mochol, Marcin Balcerzyk, Daniel K Wojcik, Grzegorz M Wilczynski, Leszek Kaczmarek
Learning how to avoid danger and pursue reward depends on negative emotions motivating aversive learning and positive emotions motivating appetitive learning. The amygdala is a key component of the brain emotional system; however, an understanding of how various emotions are differentially processed in the amygdala has yet to be achieved. We report that matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9, extracellularly operating enzyme) in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) is crucial for appetitive, but not for aversive, learning in mice...
September 4, 2013: Journal of Neuroscience