The basolateral amygdala (BLA) is critical for associating initially neutral cues with appetitive and aversive stimuli and receives dense neuromodulatory acetylcholine (ACh) projections. We measured BLA ACh signaling and activity of neurons expressing CaMKIIα (a marker for glutamatergic principal cells) in mice during cue-reward learning using a fluorescent ACh sensor and calcium indicators. We found that ACh levels and nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM) cholinergic terminal activity in the BLA (NBM-BLA) increased sharply in response to reward-related events and shifted as mice learned the cue-reward contingency. BLA CaMKIIα neuron activity followed reward retrieval and moved to the reward-predictive cue after task acquisition. Optical stimulation of cholinergic NBM-BLA terminal fibers led to a quicker acquisition of the cue-reward contingency. These results indicate BLA ACh signaling carries important information about salient events in cue-reward learning and provides a framework for understanding how ACh signaling contributes to shaping BLA responses to emotional stimuli.

中文翻译：

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乙酰胆碱在基底外侧杏仁核中释放以响应奖励的预测因子并增强对提示奖励意外事件的学习

基底外侧杏仁核 (BLA) 对于将最初的中性线索与食欲和厌恶刺激相关联并接受密集的神经调节乙酰胆碱 (ACh) 投射至关重要。我们使用荧光 ACh 传感器和钙指示剂在提示奖励学习期间测量了小鼠中表达 CaMKIIα（谷氨酸能主要细胞的标记物）的神经元的 BLA ACh 信号传导和活性。我们发现 BLA (NBM-BLA) 中 Meynert (NBM) 胆碱能末端活性的 ACh 水平和基底核随着奖励相关事件而急剧增加，并随着小鼠学习提示奖励意外事件而发生变化。BLA CaMKIIα 神经元活动跟随奖励检索并在任务获取后移动到奖励预测线索。胆碱能 NBM-BLA 末端纤维的光刺激导致更快地获得提示奖励意外事件。