title: Fear conditioning occludes late-phase long-term potentiation at thalamic input synapses onto the lateral amygdala in rat brain slices.
abstract: Late-phase long-term potentiation (L-LTP) of excitatory synaptic transmission at thalamic input synapses onto the lateral amygdala (T-LA synapses) has been proposed as a cellular substrate for long-term fear memory. This notion is evidenced primarily by previous reports in which the same pharmacological treatments block both T-LA L-LTP and the consolidation of fear memory. In this study, we report that fear conditioning occludes L-LTP at T-LA synapses in brain slices prepared after fear memory consolidation. L-LTP was restored either when synaptic depotentiation was induced prior to L-LTP induction in brain slices prepared from conditioned rats or when brain slices were prepared from conditioned rats that had been exposed to subsequent fear extinction, which is a behavior paradigm known to induce in vivo synaptic depotentiation at T-LA synapses. These results suggest that fear conditioning recruits L-LTP-like mechanisms that are reversible and saturable at T-LA synapses.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Ingie
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Jeongyeon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Beomjong
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Kyungjoon
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Kisoon
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Khee Dong
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Eom
authors.forename: Pyung Lim
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Sukwon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Sukwoo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D000679:Amygdala / Q000166:cytology*; D000818:Animals; D001703:Biophysics; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005108:Extinction, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005239:Fear; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D017774:Long-Term Potentiation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008734:Methoxyhydroxyphenylglycol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques / Q000379:methods; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013569:Synapses / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D013788:Thalamus / Q000166:cytology*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D008734:Methoxyhydroxyphenylglycol; C010117:3,4-dihydroxyphenylglycol