Considerable work has established the amygdala as a key site involved in the generation of fear and anxiety responses, the assignment of emotional salience to external stimuli, the coordination of affective, autonomic, and behavioral responses to such stimuli, as well as Pavlovian learning processes (Davis, 1997; Pare et al., 2004; Pape and Pare, 2010). Significant recent progress has been made to elucidate the complex synaptic connectivity between amygdaloid nuclei and the means by which afferent information is processed within the amygdala to affect behavioral outcomes. Over the past decade, eCB signaling has emerged as a key neuromodulatory system that regulates synaptic efficacy within and between amygdaloid subnuclei. Here we summarize data elaborating the role of eCB signaling in amygdala, the adaptations in this system that occur in response to stress, and the behavioral consequences of eCB-mediated modulation of amygdala function.
