Changes in amygdala neural activity that occur with the extinction of context-dependent conditioned fear stress.
The purpose of the present study was to characterize functional changes in the amygdala that accompany the extinction of context-dependent conditioned fear stress in a rat, an animal model of anxiety. Specifically, the effect of extinction of conditioned fear-induced cyclic AMP responsive element-binding protein (CREB) phosphorylation in the amygdala was investigated using immunohistochemistry. Experiments demonstrated that CREB phosphorylation in the basal nucleus of the amygdala decreased with the extinction of context-dependent conditioned fear-induced freezing behavior. These data suggest that the basal nucleus of the amygdala plays an essential role in the expression of context-dependent conditioned fear. Further, this is the first study to demonstrate that CREB phosphorylation in the basal nucleus of the amygdala changes in parallel with the extinction of context-dependent conditioned fear.
Izumi
Takeshi
T
Department of Neuropharmacology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, North 15, West 7, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan. psyizumi@med.hokudai.ac.jp
Inoue
Takeshi
T
Kato
Akiko
A
Kitaichi
Yuji
Y
Nakagawa
Shin
S
Koyama
Tsukasa
T
D000679:Amygdala / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D017362:Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D004597:Electroshock; D005108:Extinction, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010766:Phosphorylation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*
D017362:Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein