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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Apr 1.
Published in final edited form as: Physiol Behav. 2016 Oct 25;172:49–59. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2016.10.015

Fig. 3.

Fig. 3

Hypothesized anatomical pathways translating CeA output into cardiovascular stress responses. Simplified direct connections are illustrated without indirect multisynaptic circuits. The CeA provides abundant innervation of stress-regulatory centers, particularly in the brainstem, representing a major source of descending limbic outflow. These projections are predominantly GABAergic but also co-release peptides to target a diverse array of postsynaptic cell groups. Generally, the CeA targets the GABAergic BST and mPOA, the neurochemically diverse LHA, and key brainstem centers (PB, NTS, VLM, LC, Raphe). The precise functional outcomes of CeA inputs to these distinct regions remains to be determined. See text for references. CeA: central amygdala, BST: bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, mPOA: medial preoptic area, PB: parabrachial nuclei, NTS: nucleus of the solitary tract, LHA: lateral hypothalamic area, VLM: ventrolateral medulla, LC: locus coeruleus, DMV: dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus, NA: nucleus ambiguus, IML intermediolateral cell column, Glu: glutamate, 5-HT: serotonin, NE: norepinephrine, ACh: acetylcholine.