TY - JOUR TI - Optogenetic dissection of basolateral amygdala contributions to intertemporal choice in young and aged rats AU - Hernandez, Caesar M AU - Orsini, Caitlin A AU - Labiste, Chase C AU - Wheeler, Alexa-Rae AU - Ten Eyck, Tyler W AU - Bruner, Matthew M AU - Sahagian, Todd J AU - Harden, Scott W AU - Frazier, Charles J AU - Setlow, Barry AU - Bizon, Jennifer L A2 - Schoenbaum, Geoffrey A2 - Frank, Michael J VL - 8 PY - 2019 DA - 2019/04/24 SP - e46174 C1 - eLife 2019;8:e46174 DO - 10.7554/eLife.46174 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.46174 AB - Across species, aging is associated with an increased ability to choose delayed over immediate gratification. These experiments used young and aged rats to test the role of the basolateral amygdala (BLA) in intertemporal decision making. An optogenetic approach was used to inactivate the BLA in young and aged rats at discrete time points during choices between levers that yielded a small, immediate vs. a large, delayed food reward. BLA inactivation just prior to decisions attenuated impulsive choice in both young and aged rats. In contrast, inactivation during receipt of the small, immediate reward increased impulsive choice in young rats but had no effect in aged rats. BLA inactivation during the delay or intertrial interval had no effect at either age. These data demonstrate that the BLA plays multiple, temporally distinct roles during intertemporal choice, and show that the contribution of BLA to choice behavior changes across the lifespan. KW - decision making KW - basolateral amygdala KW - delay discounting KW - intertemporal choice KW - aging KW - impulsive choice JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -