Figure 7.

Connections of EWcp with the circuit activated by psychogenic stressors, which evokes emotional arousal and autonomic responses. One of the branches of this circuit comprises the activation of limbic regions (CeA and BNST) that project to PAG that, in turn, projects to brainstem presympathetic neurons that control sympathetic outflow. As with PAG, EWcp receives afferent projections from limbic regions and projects to brainstem presympathetic neurons. This parallelism suggests that EWcp could be a key element of an additional pathway that conveys limbic information to the autonomic brainstem, besides the classic pathway via PAG. EWcp has reciprocal connections with CeA, BNST, PAG, and with serotonergic neurons (Ser) in dorsal raphe (DR), which are activated by psychogenic stressors and express high density of CRF-R2. For terms, see the list of abbreviations.