Fear conditioning drives profilin into amygdala dendritic spines.
Changes in spine morphology may underlie memory formation, but the molecular mechanisms that subserve such alterations are poorly understood. Here we show that fear conditioning in rats leads to the movement of profilin, an actin polymerization-regulatory protein, into dendritic spines in the lateral amygdala and that these spines undergo enlargements in their postsynaptic densities (PSDs). A greater proportion of profilin-containing spines with enlarged PSDs could contribute to the enhancement of associatively induced synaptic responses in the lateral amygdala following fear learning.
W.M. Keck Foundation Laboratory for Neurobiology, Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA. rlamp@research.haifa.ac.il
Raphael
R
Lamprecht
Claudia R
CR
Farb
Sarina M
SM
Rodrigues
Joseph E
JE
LeDoux
D000679:Amygdala / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D049229:Dendritic Spines / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D051304:Profilins / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats
D051304:Profilins