Principal basolateral amygdala (BL) neurons profoundly influence motivated behaviors, yet few of them are activated by emotionally valenced stimuli. Here, we show that a likely explanation for this paradox is the synchronizing influence of the high-gamma rhythm. High-gamma (75-95 Hz) entrained BL firing more strongly than all other rhythms. It was most pronounced during states of increased vigilance, when rats were apprehensive. Relative to behavioral states, high-gamma produced minor changes in firing rates yet dramatic increases in synchrony. Moreover, connected pairs of cells showed similarly high levels of entrainment and synchronization. Unexpectedly, prefrontal- and accumbens-projecting cells, respectively, showed high and low entrainment by high-gamma, indicating that this rhythm differentially synchronizes the activity of BL neurons projecting to specific sites. Overall, our findings suggest that individual BL neurons encode information not only by changing their firing rates, but also by synchronizing their collective activity, amplifying their impact on target structures.

中文翻译：

---

警惕性相关的伽马振荡协调基底外侧杏仁核神经元的集合活动。

主要的基底外侧杏仁核（BL）神经元会深刻影响动机行为，但很少有人会被具有价态的刺激激活。在这里，我们证明了这种悖论的可能解释是高伽玛节奏的同步影响。高伽玛（75-95 Hz）比其他所有节奏更强地夹带BL射击。当大鼠处于警觉状态时，这种现象最为明显。相对于行为状态，高伽玛射线发射速率产生较小变化，但同步性却急剧增加。而且，连接的成对的细胞显示出相似的高水平的夹带和同步。出乎意料的是，前额投射细胞和伏隔投射细胞分别显示出高伽马和低伽马的夹带，表示此节律差异地同步了投射到特定位点的BL神经元的活动。总体而言，我们的发现表明，单个BL神经元不仅通过改变其放电频率来编码信息，还可以通过同步其集体活动来放大其对靶标结构的影响。