BDNF Modulates Contextual Fear Learning during Adolescence

Abstract

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a growth factor that plays key roles in regulating higher-order emotional and cognitive processes including fear learning and memory. A common single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) has been identified in the human BDNF gene (BDNF Val66Met) that leads to decreased BDNF secretion and impairments in specific forms of fear learning in adult humans and genetically modified mice containing this SNP. As the emergence of anxiety and other fear-related disorders peaks during adolescence, we sought to better understand the impact of this BDNF SNP on fear learning during the transition through adolescence in BDNF Val66Met knock-in mice. Previously, we have shown that contextual fear expression is temporarily suppressed in wild-type mice during a distinct period in adolescence, but re-emerges at later, postadolescent ages. Until recently, it was unclear whether BDNF-TrkB signaling is involved in the modulation of hippocampal-dependent contextual fear learning and memory during this adolescent period. Here we show that in BDNF Val66Met mice, the presence of the Met allele does not alter contextual fear expression during adolescence, but when previously conditioned BDNF^Met/Met mice are tested in adulthood, they fail to display the delayed expression of contextual fear compared to wild-type BDNF^Val/Val controls, indicating that the Met allele may permanently alter hippocampal function, leading to persistent functioning that is indistinguishable from the adolescent state. Conversely, truncated TrkB receptor (TrkB.T1)-deficient (TrkB.T1^-/-) mice, a genetic mouse model with increased BDNF-TrkB signaling through full-length TrkB receptors, exhibit an accelerated expression of contextual fear during adolescence compared to wild-type controls. Our results point to a critical function for BDNF-TrkB signaling in fear regulation in vivo, particularly during a potentially sensitive period in adolescence.