title: Contextual fear conditioning depresses infralimbic excitability.
abstract: Patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) show hypo-active ventromedial prefrontal cortices (vmPFC) that correlate with their impaired ability to discriminate between safe and dangerous contexts and cues. Previously, we found that auditory fear conditioning depresses the excitability of neurons populating the homologous structure in rodents, the infralimbic cortex (IL). However, it is undetermined if IL depression was mediated by the cued or contextual information. The objective of this study was to examine whether contextual information was sufficient to depress IL neuronal excitability. After exposing rats to context-alone, pseudoconditioning, or contextual fear conditioning, we used whole-cell current-clamp recordings to examine the excitability of IL neurons in prefrontal brain slices. We found that contextual fear conditioning reduced IL neuronal firing in response to depolarizing current steps. In addition, neurons from contextual fear conditioned animals showed increased slow afterhyperpolarization potentials (sAHPs). Moreover, the observed changes in IL excitability correlated with contextual fear expression, suggesting that IL depression may contribute to the encoding of contextual fear.
authors: Department of Basic Sciences, Ponce Health Sciences University-School of Medicine/Ponce Research Institute, Ponce 00732, Puerto Rico.
authors: Omar
authors: O
authors: Soler-Cedeño
authors: Department of Basic Sciences, Ponce Health Sciences University-School of Medicine/Ponce Research Institute, Ponce 00732, Puerto Rico.
authors: Emmanuel
authors: E
authors: Cruz
authors: Department of Basic Sciences, Ponce Health Sciences University-School of Medicine/Ponce Research Institute, Ponce 00732, Puerto Rico.
authors: Marangelie
authors: M
authors: Criado-Marrero
authors: Department of Basic Sciences, Ponce Health Sciences University-School of Medicine/Ponce Research Institute, Ponce 00732, Puerto Rico. Electronic address: jporter@psm.edu.
authors: James T
authors: JT
authors: Porter
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D005108:Extinction, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D008032:Limbic System / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
keywords: Afterhyperpolarization; Brain slices; Contextual fear conditioning; Electrophysiology; Intrinsic excitability; Prefrontal cortex