Review
Clinical Neurology
Yan Yan, Ailikemu Aierken, Chunjian Wang, Wei Jin, Zhenzhen Quan, Zhe Wang, Hong Qing, Junjun Ni, Juan Zhao
Summary: This review discusses the use of optogenetics and in vivo imaging techniques to study the neural circuits underlying the extinction and discrimination of fear memory. It also highlights the challenge of translating these findings into effective therapeutic treatments for PTSD.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
J. Courtin, Y. Bitterman, S. Muller, J. Hinz, K. M. Hagihara, C. Muller, A. Luthi
Summary: This study investigates the neuronal mechanisms in the basolateral amygdala that control behavior motivation. The findings suggest that distinct neuronal activity patterns play a role in encoding and maintaining specific motivational states necessary for adaptive behavior towards prospective rewards.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Daniel Jercog, Nanci Winke, Kibong Sung, Mario Martin Fernandez, Claire Francioni, Domitille Rajot, Julien Courtin, Fabrice Chaudun, Pablo E. Jercog, Stephane Valerio, Cyril Herry
Summary: The study found that threat representations and avoidance behavior initiation are dynamically encoded in the overall population activity of dmPFC neurons in mice. While dmPFC population activity at stimulus onset encodes sustained threat representations driven by the amygdala, it does not predict action outcome. Transient dmPFC population activity before the initiation of action reliably predicts avoided from non-avoided trials, revealing the dynamic process of information linking threats with defensive actions within prefrontal networks.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Limeng Huang, Yiwen Chen, Sen Jin, Li Lin, Shumin Duan, Ke Si, Wei Gong, J. Julius Zhu
Summary: The study reveals that the output neurons of the amygdala receive diverse inputs with different weights and contextual representations. Additionally, the four major output neuronal groups receive inputs from virtually identical origins with similar input weights, indicating an organized input-output neuronal circuit in the amygdala.
MOLECULAR PSYCHIATRY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Simon d'Aquin, Andras Szonyi, Mathias Mahn, Sabine Krabbe, Jan Gruendemann, Andreas Luethi
Summary: This study reveals the functional and plastic properties of active dendrites in behaving animals and the differential plasticity between dendrites and somas induced by fear conditioning.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Bridget L. Kajs, Adrienne C. Loewke, Jeffrey M. Dorsch, Leah T. Vinson, Lisa A. Gunaydin
Summary: This study utilized fiber photometry to record the activity of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and its projections to the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) and basolateral amygdala (BLA) during active avoidance learning in mice. The results showed that both prefrontal projections exhibited learning-related increases in activity, while the overall dmPFC activity showed different patterns during avoidance and cued freezing. The findings highlight the importance of dmPFC projections in active avoidance learning.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Meenakshi M. Asokan, Yurika Watanabe, Eyal Y. Kimchi, Daniel B. Polley
Summary: The amygdala, cholinergic basal forebrain, and higher-order auditory cortex play important roles in brain plasticity during auditory threat learning. This study finds that the response of lateral amygdala and corticoamygdalar projection neurons is enhanced for sounds paired with shock, and there is increased functional coupling between higher-order auditory cortex and amygdala during threat memory recall. These findings provide insights into the neural mechanisms underlying auditory threat learning.
Article
Neurosciences
Han-Qing Pan, Xiao-Xuan Liu, Ye He, Jin Zhou, Cai-Zhi Liao, Wen-Jie You, Si-Ying Jiang, Xia Qin, Wen-Bing Chen, Er-Kang Fei, Wen-Hua Zhang, Bing-Xing Pan
Summary: This study reveals the unconventional and permissive role of extrasynaptic GABA(A) receptors in fear extinction through a route relying on nonsynaptic plasticity. The expression and function of GABA(A)(δ)R in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) are positively correlated with fear extinction, and knockdown of GABA(A)(δ)R in the mPFC impairs fear extinction. Mechanistically, GABA(A)(δ)R enables the extinction-evoked plastic regulation of neuronal excitability in mPFC projection neurons.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Shuai-Wen Teng, Xin-Rong Wang, Bio-Wen Du, Xiao-Lin Chen, Guan-Zhou Fu, Yun-Fei Liu, Shu-Qi Xu, Jia-Chen Shuai, Zhe-Yu Chen
Summary: This study found that fear memory is primarily expressed in the prelimbic cortex and basolateral amygdala, and the regulation and transformation of fear memory are influenced by the reactivation of original engrams. In addition, memory updating also leads to overlapping between fear and extinction cells, and alters the encoding of original fear engrams. This research provides the first evidence for the overlapping ensembles between fear and extinction cells, and the functional reorganization of original engrams underlying conditioned stimulus- and unconditioned stimulus-initiated memory updating.
Article
Neurosciences
Jessica A. Babb, Agnieszka Zuberer, Stephen Heinrichs, Kendra K. Rumbika, Lauren Alfiler, Gabrielle A. Lakis, Kimberly A. Leite-Morris, Gary B. Kaplan
Summary: Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) frequently co-occur in both military and civilian populations. In a mouse model of mTBI, fear learning and neural systems involved in fear extinction were examined. LFP 1.7 mice demonstrated within-session aberrant fear extinction and alterations in brain morphology and dendritic plasticity.
BRAIN RESEARCH BULLETIN
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Nicole E. Keller, Augustin C. Hennings, Emily K. Leiker, Jarrod A. Lewis-Peacock, Joseph E. Dunsmoor
Summary: Neurobiological evidence suggests that incorporating reward associations with an extinction memory may be an effective strategy to attenuate threat responses. This study compared rewarded extinction to standard extinction in both short-term and long-term retrieval tests and found that rewarded extinction was more effective in reducing arousal and threat expectancy. The study also identified different patterns of brain activity and connectivity between reward-associated extinction and standard extinction.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Erin E. Koffman, Charles M. Kruse, Kritika Singh, Farzaneh Sadat Naghavi, Melissa A. Curtis, Jennifer Egbo, Mark Houdi, Boren Lin, Hui Lu, Jacek Debiec, Jianyang Du
Summary: Recent research has shown that the activation of acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) can strengthen the specific memory trace associated with memory reconsolidation, thus increasing the lability of threat memory.
Article
Neurosciences
Hoonwon Lee, Bong-Kiun Kaang
Summary: Fear learning ensures survival through conditioned fear responses and fear memory is processed and stored in a fear memory circuit. Gradual decrease in conditioned fear response can be induced by fear extinction, while fear memory can also recover after extinction. Recent studies on fear engram changes during fear extinction and relapse are reviewed.
CURRENT OPINION IN NEUROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Immunology
Zhi-Heng Zheng, Xing-Cheng Lin, Ying Lu, Shi-Rui Cao, Xu-Kai Liu, Dong Lin, Fan-Hua Yang, Yang -Bo Zhang, Ping Hu, Wen-Hua Zhang
Summary: Increasing evidence suggests that immune system alterations contribute to the development of anxiety disorders, and inhibiting neuroinflammation may be an effective therapeutic strategy. Harmine, a compound found in medicinal plants, has been reported to have anti-inflammatory and potential anxiolytic effects. However, the mechanisms underlying these effects are not fully understood. This study showed that harmine alleviates anxiety-like behaviors by reducing neuroinflammation and restoring neuronal plasticity in the basolateral amygdala.
INTERNATIONAL IMMUNOPHARMACOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Marc Ten-Blanco, Africa Flores, Inmaculada Pereda-Perez, Fabiana Piscitelli, Cristina Izquierdo-Luengo, Luigia Cristino, Julian Romero, Cecilia J. Hillard, Rafael Maldonado, Vincenzo Di Marzo, Fernando Berrendero
Summary: Anxiety and stress disorders often involve an inability to extinguish learned fear responses. This study suggests that the endogenous cannabinoid system is involved in this impairment and that dysregulation of the orexin system may contribute to anxiety disorders characterized by pathological fear.
BIOMEDICINE & PHARMACOTHERAPY
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Yu Kasugai, Elisabeth Vogel, Heide Hoertnagl, Sabine Schoenherr, Enrica Paradiso, Markus Hauschild, Georg Goebel, Ivan Milenkovic, Yvan Peterschmitt, Ramon Tasan, Guenther Sperk, Ryuichi Shigemoto, Werner Sieghart, Nicolas Singewald, Andreas Luethi, Francesco Ferraguti
Article
Neurosciences
Sabine Krabbe, Enrica Paradiso, Simon D'Aquin, Yael Bitterman, Julien Courtin, Chun Xu, Keisuke Yonehara, Milica Markovic, Christian Mueller, Tobias Eichlisberger, Jan Grundemann, Francesco Ferraguti, Andreas Luthi
NATURE NEUROSCIENCE
(2019)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Maria Sol Fustinana, Tobias Eichlisberger, Tewis Bouwmeester, Yael Bitterman, Andreas Luthi
Summary: The behavior of animals is determined by metabolic, emotional, and social factors. In the basolateral amygdala, neural ensembles encode engagement in exploratory behavior through large, functionally anti-correlated groups. These findings suggest that the basolateral amygdala acts as a low-dimensional, context-dependent hierarchical classifier.
Article
Neurosciences
Jan Grunedemann
Summary: Associative fear learning is a fundamental mechanism crucial for an animal's survival, with evidence suggesting that fear memories are acquired, stored, and modulated by a distributed neuronal network across many brain areas.
CURRENT OPINION IN NEUROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
James Alexander Taylor, Masashi Hasegawa, Chloe Maelle Benoit, Joana Amorim Freire, Marine Theodore, Dan Alin Ganea, Sabrina Milena Innocenti, Tingjia Lu, Jan Gruendemann
Summary: The study reveals that auditory thalamus neurons exhibit heterogeneous plasticity patterns after fear conditioning, while population level encoding of auditory stimuli remains stable. Additionally, activity in auditory thalamus to amygdala-projecting neurons is necessary for fear memory consolidation.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
J. Courtin, Y. Bitterman, S. Muller, J. Hinz, K. M. Hagihara, C. Muller, A. Luthi
Summary: This study investigates the neuronal mechanisms in the basolateral amygdala that control behavior motivation. The findings suggest that distinct neuronal activity patterns play a role in encoding and maintaining specific motivational states necessary for adaptive behavior towards prospective rewards.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Simon d'Aquin, Andras Szonyi, Mathias Mahn, Sabine Krabbe, Jan Gruendemann, Andreas Luethi
Summary: This study reveals the functional and plastic properties of active dendrites in behaving animals and the differential plasticity between dendrites and somas induced by fear conditioning.
Article
Biology
Yuhan Wang, Sabine Krabbe, Mark Eddison, Fredrick E. Henry, Greg Fleishman, Andrew L. Lemire, Lihua Wang, Wyatt Korff, Paul W. Tillberg, Andreas Luthi, Scott M. Sternson
Summary: Researchers used single-cell RNA sequencing and fluorescence in situ hybridization to classify cell types in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CEA) and determine their spatial distribution and connectivity. They discovered a spatiomolecular organization in the CEA, with medial and lateral CEA associated with distinct cell families. They also found a long-range axon projection network from the CEA, which interacts with multiple molecularly defined cell types. This study provides important marker genes and axon-projection types for studying the diverse functions of the CEA.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Lema Massi, Kenta M. Hagihara, Julien Courtin, Julian Hinz, Christian Mueller, Maria Sol Fustinana, Chun Xu, Nikolaos Karalis, Andreas Luthi
Summary: Memory encoding and retrieval rely on specific interactions across multiple brain areas, but the anatomical and functional specificity of neuronal circuit organization underlying information transfer across these areas is still unclear.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jan Grundemann, Yael Bitterman, Tingjia Lu, Sabine Krabbe, Benjamin F. Grewe, Mark J. Schnitzer, Andreas Luthi
Review
Neurosciences
Maya Jammoul, Dareen Jammoul, Kevin K. Wang, Firas Kobeissy, Ralph G. Depalma
Summary: This article reviews the possible mechanisms by which traumatic brain injury (TBI) may stimulate the development of opioid use disorder (OUD) and discusses the interaction between these two processes. CNS damage due to TBI appears to drive adverse effects of subsequent OUD, with pain being a risk factor for opioid use after TBI.
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY
(2024)
Article
Neurosciences
Danusa Mar Arcego, Jan-Paul Buschdorf, Nicholas O'Toole, Zihan Wang, Barbara Barth, Irina Pokhvisneva, Nirmala Arul Rayan, Sachin Patel, Euclides Jose de Mendonca Filho, Patrick Lee, Jennifer Tan, Ming Xuan Koh, Chu Ming Sim, Carine Parent, Randriely Merscher Sobreira de Lima, Andrew Clappison, Kieran J. O'Donnell, Carla Dalmaz, Janine Arloth, Nadine Provencal, Elisabeth B. Binder, Josie Diorio, Patricia Pelufo Silveira, Michael J. Meaney
Summary: This study investigates the impact of environmental influences on mental health by integrating transcriptomic data from animal models with human data. The results suggest that hippocampal glucocorticoid-related transcriptional activity mediates the effects of early adversity on neural mechanisms implicated in psychiatric disorders.
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY
(2024)
Article
Neurosciences
Milenna T. van Dijk, Ardesheer Talati, Pratik Kashyap, Karan Desai, Nora C. Kelsall, Marc J. Gameroff, Natalie Aw, Eyal Abraham, Breda Cullen, Jiook Cha, Christoph Anacker, Myrna M. Weissman, Jonathan Posner
Summary: This study found that maternal stress is associated with future depressive symptoms and alterations in microstructure of the dentate gyrus (DG) in offspring. These results were consistent across two independent cohorts.
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY
(2024)
Article
Neurosciences
Josephine C. McGowan, Liliana R. Ladner, Claire X. Shubeck, Juliana Tapia, Christina T. LaGamma, Amanda Anqueira-Gonzalez, Ariana DeFrancesco, Briana K. Chen, Holly C. Hunsberger, Ezra J. Sydnor, Ryan W. Logan, Tzong-Shiue Yu, Steven G. Kernie, Christine A. Denny
Summary: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) leads to fear generalization by altering fear memory traces, and this symptom can be improved with (R,S)-ketamine.
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY
(2024)
