Figure 8.

Functional alterations in the mPFC–BLA circuits associated with maternal and postnatal immunoactivation. A–D, Left, Diagrams illustrating the signal flow in the mPFC–BLA pathways in mice from all experimental groups. Glutamatergic (red lines) mPFC projections form excitatory synapses on BLA PNs and on the local circuit INs. Interneurons form inhibitory synapses (blue line) on PN and thus provide strong feedforward inhibition in the mPFC–BLA pathway. PNs in the BLA, when driven to the AP threshold, send information (red line) to the downstream structures, including the central nucleus of the AMG (CeA), bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), striatum, and cortical areas. Right, Activation of mPFC inputs to BLA PNs and INs results in generation of monosynaptic EPSCs (black trace) and disynaptic IPSCs (blue trace), which could be recorded in BLA PNs at holding potentials of −80 or 0 mV, respectively. Changes in the thickness of lines indicate a change in synaptic efficacy. See Discussion for the additional detailed interpretation of experimental findings.