[2][3] Studies have begun to recognize that ITC clusters may be implicated in reward, addiction, and withdrawal circuits given their heavy expression of dopamine and opioid receptors.
[4] In rodents, ITCs are organized into distinct clusters that wrap the basolateral amygdala (BLA).
[6] Some researchers speculate that ITC cells could serve as a substrate for the expression and storage of extinction memory via their extensive local inhibition within the amygdala.
[6][9] These clusters work collaborately to activate populations of neurons within the basal amygdala (BA) that project to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC).
[1] However, recent optogenetic studies have shown that in the rodent model, ITCs do not receive direct inputs from the IL prefrontal cortex.