Figure 1

Anatomical organization of the amygdala. A: Frontal section of a rat brain at the level of the amygdala processed for acetylcholinesterase staining. The boxed area indicates the position of the magnified region right-hand. The four main groups are outlined: superficial (purple), basolateral (red), central (blue), medial (green). B: Schematic representation of the main amygdala nuclei. The basolateral group (red) includes the lateral (L), basolateral (BL), basolateral ventral (BLV) and basomedial (BM) nuclei. The central group is represented by the central nucleus with its capsular (CeLC), lateral (CeL) and medial (CeM) subdivisions. The medial (green) and superficial (purple) groups are represented at this level by the medial (MeA) and anterior cortical (ACo) nuclei, respectively. The intercalated cell masses (ITC, black) appear wedged between BL and CeA. Other abbreviations: CPu: caudate-putamen; ic: internal capsule; GP: globus pallidus; ot: optic tract. Photographs of acetylcholinesterase staining from the authors’ archive.