Biology subjects

Babiczky, A.

Publications and source records attributed to Babiczky, A..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Dual thalamic drive defines the intra-amygdala wiring complexity

The amygdala plays a key role in affective behaviors by integrating incoming signals and conveying them towards subcortical output regions. Current models suggest a serial information flow within the amygdala from the lateral and basolateral towards the central subnuclei driven by incoming thalamic and cortical excitation. However, due to the lack of universally accepted parcellation principles, the precise connectivity and thus, the signal propagation within the circuit remain debated. Using a molecular-based parcellation, our subnucleus-specific anatomical and electrophysiological mapping revealed a previously overlooked complexity in the intra-amygdala wiring pattern in mice. Specifically, the intra-amygdala signal transfer relies on separate lateral thalamus-driven routes via the lateral subnucleus mostly bypassing the anterior basolateral and centrolateral subnuclei. In contrast, the anterior basolateral nucleus, innervated by the dorsal midline thalamus, supplies mostly extra-, but not intra-amygdala routes. We also demonstrated that a similar dual thalamo-cortico-amygdala organization exists in the human brain. Collectively, our findings identified unconventional amygdala wiring principles challenging the traditional serial lateral-basolateral-central stream model which can redefine our understanding of behaviorally relevant intra-amygdala computations.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

Dissociable Effects of Early and Adolescent Adversity on Emotional Contagion

BackgroundEarly-life adversity can alter emotional and social development and increase vulnerability to later life stress. We investigated how early adverse experiences (EAE) and later adverse experiences (LAE) shape adult emotional contagion (EC) responses in female and male rats. MethodsEAE was induced using the limited bedding and nesting model during the first postnatal week. LAE was induced via footshocks during adolescence. In adulthood, male and female rats underwent an EC test in which observers witnessed a conspecific receiving footshocks. ResultsAdolescence-footshock exposed observers showed cingulate cortex-associated increased immobility, proximity, and attention toward distressed conspecifics during adulthood, compared to adult-exposed and sham animals, both in male and female animals. While EAE did alter maternal care, pup stress physiology, and pup weight, we found evidence that it did not alter immobility during EC. However, female demonstrators paired with EAE observers showed increased immobility, linked to a reduced rate and lower frequency of the observers 50-kHz vocalizations. Mediation analysis revealed that a shift toward lower-frequency 50-kHz vocalizations specifically mediated this effect, suggesting a sex-specific pathway by which early adversity shapes social behavior. ConclusionsEarly and adolescent adversity influenced distinct aspects of emotional contagion: EAE mediated an observer-to-demonstrator emotional transfer during EC, while LAE impacted a demonstrator-to-observer transfer, with no evidence of additive effects. Our results highlight developmentally specific and sex-dependent mechanisms by which early and later adversity alter social-affective responses in adulthood.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Molecular characteristics and laminar distribution of prefrontal neurons projecting to the mesolimbic system

Prefrontal cortical influence over the mesolimbic system - including the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and the ventral tegmental area (VTA) - is implicated in various cognitive processes and behavioral malfunctions. The functional versatility of this system could be explained by an underlying anatomical complexity; however, the detailed characterization of the medial prefrontal cortical (mPFC) innervation of the NAc and VTA is still lacking. Therefore, combining classical retrograde and conditional viral tracing techniques with multiple fluorescent immunohistochemistry, we sought to deliver a precise, cell- and layer-specific anatomical description of the cortico-mesolimbic pathways. We demonstrated that NAc- (mPFCNAc) and VTA-projecting mPFC (mPFCVTA) populations show different laminar distribution (layers 2/3-5a and 5b-6, respectively) and express different molecular markers. Specifically, calbindin and Ntsr1 are specific to mPFCNAc neurons, while mPFCVTA neurons express high levels of Ctip2 and FoxP2, indicating that these populations are mostly separated at the cellular level. We directly tested this with double retrograde tracing and Canine adenovirus type 2-mediated viral labelling and found that there is indeed minimal overlap between the two populations. Furthermore, whole-brain analysis revealed that the projection patter of these populations is also different throughout the brain. Taken together, we demonstrated that the NAc and the VTA are innervated by two, mostly non-overlapping mPFC populations with different laminar distribution and molecular profile. These results can contribute to the advancement in our understanding of mesocorticolimbic functions and its disorders in future studies.

neuroscience↗