Conditioned avoidance of a predator odor-paired context is attenuated by CeA-LH cell inhibition and mimicked by CeA-LH cell activation. A, Schematic of intersectional viral expression strategy for targeting hM4D(Gi)-mCherry, hM3D(Gq)-mCherry, or mCherry control to CeA-LH cells. B, Image of mCherry expression in CeA cell bodies (left panel) and fibers in LH (right panel). BLA: basolateral amygdala, CeA: central amygdala, f: fornix, IC: internal capsule, LH: lateral hypothalamus, MeA: medial amygdala, ZI: zona incerta. C, Timeline schematic for testing the effect of CeA-LH circuit inhibition on avoidance behavior. D, Avoidance scores in Avoider and Non-Avoider rats that were given intra-CeA active Gi-DREADD or control virus and CNO or vehicle pretreatment during test 1 and test 2. E, Timeline schematic of CNO/vehicle place conditioning procedure. F, Avoidance scores of rats that received intra-CeA active Gq-DREADD or control virus, split by CNO treatment group and across three posttest sessions; *p < 0.05 (see text for exact p values), n = 6–9 rats per group.