This was a team effort from everyone in the lab. A huge thank you to all involved. The project was made possible by generous support from the NIH.
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These processes are influenced by hunger and satiety hormones, which modulate the BNST→LHA pathway to align food-seeking behavior with current energy needs.
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We found that synaptic strength and neuronal function within this pathway are dynamically regulated based on the animal’s energy state, guiding reward-seeking behavior accordingly.
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Using a combination of optogenetics, in vivo 2p calcium imaging, and electrophysiology, we show that the BNST→LHA pathway promotes reward seeking in an energy state-dependent manner.
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We focused on the GABAergic pathway from the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) to glutamatergic neurons of the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA), specifically examining how this circuit modulates reward-seeking behavior based on energy state.
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