# Amygdala-cortical interactions in taste perception and learning

> **NIH NIH R01** · BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $407,323

## Abstract

The neural system underlying conditioned taste aversion (CTA) is, like all systems underlying perceptual
learning, highly complex—learning-relevant regions, most notably including basolateral amygdala (BLA)
and gustatory cortex (GC), work together to make learning happen. While most research to date has
focused on the role of each individual region in learning, rather than their influence on each other, my lab’s
work is a direct investigation of inter-neuronal and inter-regional interactions during taste learning. This
work has demonstrated that the coupling between BLA and GC taste responses is important for both basic
taste processing and for CTA learning: blocking transmission in the BLAàGC pathway interferes with the
coherent emergence of palatability-related information in GC ensemble taste codes (information that
appears relatively late in GC responses), and keeps learning from happening; it is therefore reasonable to
propose that activity in BLAàGC axons is vital for learning-related plasticity in those GC ensemble
responses—that is, in the changes to late-appearing palatability-related coding. The experiments proposed
here will build upon this foundation, and on recent work by collaborators, to test this overarching
hypothesis. First we will acutely and selectively silence BLAàGC axons, and test whether this perturbation
blocks learning- and behavior-linked changes in GC population responses. We will then test whether
recently-identified learning-related transcription changes occurring in BLAàGC projection neurons are
necessary for the induction and maintenance of GC taste response plasticity caused by CTA. Finally, we
will test whether intrinsic excitability in the connection between BLA and GC—which appears to be
increased in mice that fail to learn, and decreased in projection neurons that are involved in learning—is
the parameter controlling learning-related changes in GC network activity. Together, these experiments
will be the first to directly and specifically relate cellular/molecular plasticity processes to the emergent
dynamics of network function in vertebrates. In the process, they will reveal new facets of the neural
mechanisms of a more general experiential phenomenon that affects (sometimes adversely) all mammals
including humans.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10799593
- **Project number:** 5R01DC006666-19
- **Recipient organization:** BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Donald B Katz
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $407,323
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2005-07-01 → 2026-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10799593

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10799593, Amygdala-cortical interactions in taste perception and learning (5R01DC006666-19). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10799593. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*