Encoding of odor information and reward anticipation in anterior cortical amygdaloid nucleus

Olfactory information directly reaches the amygdala through the olfactory cortex, without the involvement of thalamic areas, unlike other sensory systems. The anterior cortical amygdaloid nucleus (ACo) is one of the olfactory cortices that receives olfactory sensory input and is part of the olfactory cortical amygdala, which relays olfactory information to the amygdala. To examine its electrophysiological features, we recorded individual ACo neurons during the odor-guided go/no-go task to obtain a water reward. Many ACo neurons exhibited odor-evoked go cue-preferred activity during the late phase of nose-poking supporting the population dynamics that differentiate go/no-go responses before executing the odor-evoked behaviors. We observed two types of neurons with different anticipation signals: one neuron type exhibited gradual increases of activity toward reward delivery, while another type exhibited a phasic go cue-preferred activity during nose-poking as well as another phasic anticipatory activity for rewards. These results suggest that the ACo may be involved in reward-related behavioral learning by associating the olfactory information with reward anticipation.