Anxiety-related conditions are among the most difficult neuropsychiatric diseases to treat pharmacologically, but respond to cognitive therapies. There has therefore been interest in identifying relevant top-down pathways from cognitive control regions in medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Identification of such pathways could contribute to our understanding of the cognitive regulation of affect, and provide pathways for intervention. Previous studies have suggested that dorsal and ventral mPFC subregions exert opposing effects on fear, as do subregions of other structures. However, precise causal targets for top-down connections among these diverse possibilities have not been established. Here we show that the basomedial amygdala (BMA) represents the major target of ventral mPFC in amygdala in mice. Moreover, BMA neurons differentiate safe and aversive environments, and BMA activation decreases fear-related freezing and high-anxiety states. Lastly, we show that the ventral mPFC–BMA projection implements top-down control of anxiety state and learned freezing, both at baseline and in stress-induced anxiety, defining a broadly relevant new top-down behavioural regulation pathway.

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More and more wild animals find refuge in cities, due to the growth of urbanized areas, the devastation of natural habitats and the intensive transformation of agricultural spaces. The presence of wildlife increases conflicts but is also generating interesting considerations on the relationship between man and nature, based on empathy and the comprehension of animal. New co-evolution paths within cities, anthropic habitat par excellence, imply a different way of relating to the "wild" or "feral" to produce generative alliances and new shared habitat. The landscape project must come out of the comfort zone of a design conceived exclusively for human consumption and well-being: spaces of interspecies co-operation (productive symbiosis), generating responses of mutual adaptation to environmental and climatic changes; new places of co-habitat   for both humans and animals; immersive spaces, for empathic and emotional cognition capable to sensitizing became aware of the interconnections between all living species and their common habitat.

More and more wild animals find refuge in cities, due to the growth of urbanized areas, the devastation of natural habitats and the intensive transformation of agricultural spaces. The presence of wildlife increases conflicts but is also generating interesting considerations on the relationship between man and nature, based on empathy and the comprehension of animal. New co-evolution paths within cities, anthropic habitat par excellence, imply a different way of relating to the ‘wild’ or ‘feral’ to produce generative alliances and new shared habitat. The landscape project must come out of the comfort zone of a design conceived exclusively for human consumption and well-being: spaces of interspecies co-operation (productive symbiosis), generating responses of mutual adaptation to environmental and climatic changes; new places of co-habitat for both humans and animals; immersive spaces, for empathic and emotional cognition capable to sensitizing became aware of the interconnections between all living species and their common habitat.

No abstract