title: Deep brain stimulation of the amygdala alleviates fear conditioning-induced alterations in synaptic plasticity in the cortical-amygdala pathway and fear memory.
abstract: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the amygdala has been demonstrated to modulate hyperactivity of the amygdala, which is responsible for the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and thus might be used for the treatment of PTSD. However, the underlying mechanism of DBS of the amygdala in the modulation of the amygdala is unclear. The present study investigated the effects of DBS of the amygdala on synaptic transmission and synaptic plasticity at cortical inputs to the amygdala, which is critical for the formation and storage of auditory fear memories, and fear memories. The results demonstrated that auditory fear conditioning increased single-pulse-evoked field excitatory postsynaptic potentials in the cortical-amygdala pathway. Furthermore, auditory fear conditioning decreased the induction of paired-pulse facilitation and long-term potentiation, two neurophysiological models for studying short-term and long-term synaptic plasticity, respectively, in the cortical-amygdala pathway. In addition, all these auditory fear conditioning-induced changes could be reversed by DBS of the amygdala. DBS of the amygdala also rescued auditory fear conditioning-induced enhancement of long-term retention of fear memory. These findings suggested that DBS of the amygdala alleviating fear conditioning-induced alterations in synaptic plasticity in the cortical-amygdala pathway and fear memory may underlie the neuromodulatory role of DBS of the amygdala in activities of the amygdala.
authors.affiliation: School of Medical Instrument and Food Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 516 Jun Gong Road, Shanghai, 200093, People's Republic of China, lsui@usst.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sui
authors.forename: SiJia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: BinBin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: FuYing
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000009:adverse effects; D000679:Amygdala / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001703:Biophysics; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D046690:Deep Brain Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D019706:Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005239:Fear; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley