Formation Of Long-term Fear Memory Research Articles

Differential involvement of protein synthesis and actin rearrangement in the reacquisition of contextual fear conditioning

Extinction learning is associated with a decline of the conditioned fear response (CR). However, re-exposure to the unconditioned stimulus (US, shock) is associated with the return of the fear response. This study aimed to study the role of protein synthesis and actin rearrangement in the CA1 hippocampal subregion and the basolateral amygdala (BLA) in acquisition and reacquisition of contextual fear conditioning. To that end, we trained rats on contextual fear conditioning and extinction, and on the last extinction training session we reconditioned the animals by re-exposure to the US. Immediately after, rats were microinfused with the protein synthesis inhibitor anisomycin or the actin rearrangement inhibitor cytochalasin D into either the BLA or the CA1. The results of this study show differential involvement of anisomycin and cytochalasin D in the acquisition and reacquisition of contextual fear conditioning. Specifically, while the microinfusion of anisomycin into the BLA or the CA1 immediately after reconditioning of fear did not inhibit the return of fear, the microinfusion of cytochalsin D into either the BLA or the CA1 attenuated fear responses. Interestingly, the initial acquisition of contextual fear memory is dependent on intra-BLA and CA1 protein synthesis and cytoskeletal rearrangement, since the microinfusion of these drugs blocked the formation of long-term fear memory. The results suggest that the two processes of acquisition and reacquisition of fear are not identical and they engage different mechanisms.

Interaction betweenN-Ethylmaleimide-Sensitive Factor and GluR2 Is Essential for Fear Memory Formation in Lateral Amygdala

Long-term memory formation is believed to involve alterations of synaptic efficacy. It has been shown that GluR1-containing AMPA receptors are inserted into synapses following stimuli leading to plasticity and that GluR2/GluR3-containing receptors replace existing synaptic AMPA receptors continuously and may act to maintain synaptic efficacy. Maintaining GluR2/GluR3 receptors level in synapse requires interactions of N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor (NSF) with GluR2. To assess possible roles of NSF-GluR2 interaction in rat lateral amygdala (LA) in fear memory formation we used a specific GluR2-NSF interaction inhibitory peptide (pep-R845A). This inhibitory peptide, composed of a modified NSF binding site of GluR2, was previously shown to interact specifically with NSF and to affect AMPA-mediated synaptic efficacy. The inhibitory peptide was linked to a TAT peptide (TAT-pep-R845A) to facilitate internalization into LA cells. Infusion of the TAT-pep-R845A inhibitory peptide into LA 30 min before fear conditioning led to a significant impairment of long-term fear memory formation. In contrast, the control TAT peptide alone had no effect on fear memory. Injection of TAT-pep-R845A peptide into LA had no effect on short-term fear memory. In addition, the inhibitory peptide had no effect on memory retrieval when injected into LA 30 min before fear memory test. Furthermore, maintenance of memory was not impaired when the peptide was injected 24 h after fear conditioning and fear memory was tested 48 h afterward. These results show that GluR2-NSF interaction in LA is necessary for fear memory consolidation but not retrieval or persistence.

Identification of plasticity‐associated genes regulated by Pavlovian fear conditioning in the lateral amygdala

Most recent studies aimed at defining the cellular and molecular mechanisms of Pavlovian fear conditioning have focused on protein kinase signaling pathways and the transcription factor cAMP-response element binding protein (CREB) that promote fear memory consolidation in the lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA). Despite this progress, there still remains a paucity of information regarding the genes downstream of CREB that are required for long-term fear memory formation in the LA. We have adopted a strategy of using microarray technology to initially identify genes induced within the dentate gyrus following in vivo long-term potentiation (LTP) followed by analysis of whether these same genes are also regulated by fear conditioning within the LA. In the present study, we first identified 34 plasticity-associated genes that are induced within 30 min following LTP induction utilizing a combination of DNA microarray, qRT-PCR, and in situ hybridization. To determine whether these genes are also induced in the LA following Pavlovian fear conditioning, we next exposed rats to an auditory fear conditioning protocol or to control conditions that do not support fear learning followed by qRT-PCR on mRNA from microdissected LA samples. Finally, we asked whether identified genes induced by fear learning in the LA are downstream of the extracellular-regulated kinase/mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling cascade. Collectively, our findings reveal a comprehensive list of genes that represent the first wave of transcription following both LTP induction and fear conditioning that largely belong to a class of genes referred to as 'neuronal activity dependent genes' that are likely calcium, extracellular-regulated kinase/mitogen-activated protein kinase, and CREB-dependent.

Introgression of Brown Norway Chromosome 1 onto the Fawn Hooded Hypertensive Background Rescues Long-Term Fear Memory Deficits

The isolation of genes influencing long-term memory is critical for an understanding of learning at the molecular level. Recently, chromosomal substitution rat strains, known as consomics, have been developed. Here we report the results of the first study on aversive learning and memory with these consomic rats. We compared the Fawn Hooded Hypertensive (FHH) and Brown Norway (BN) parent strains with a Brown Norway chromosome 1 substitution on the FHH background (FHH-1(BN)). Results indicated that while all strains had normal short-term memory, the FHH animals were impaired relative to BN in tests of long-term memory for a discrete auditory cue. This deficit was rescued by the introgression of the BN1 chromosome onto the FHH background. Furthermore, the FHH-1(BN) consomic showed an enhancement in long-term contextual fear memory relative to the FHH strain. These changes were not due to differences in pain sensitivity as both strains performed equally on two different pain tests. These results provide preliminary support that consomic rat strains can be a useful tool in identifying genes related to long-term fear memory formation.

A Novel Form of Memory for Auditory Fear Conditioning at a Low-Intensity Unconditioned Stimulus

Fear is one of the most potent emotional experiences and is an adaptive component of response to potentially threatening stimuli. On the other hand, too much or inappropriate fear accounts for many common psychiatric problems. Cumulative evidence suggests that the amygdala plays a central role in the acquisition, storage and expression of fear memory. Here, we developed an inducible striatal neuron ablation system in transgenic mice. The ablation of striatal neurons in the adult brain hardly affected the auditory fear learning under the standard condition in agreement with previous studies. When conditioned with a low-intensity unconditioned stimulus, however, the formation of long-term fear memory but not short-tem memory was impaired in striatal neuron-ablated mice. Consistently, the ablation of striatal neurons 24 h after conditioning with the low-intensity unconditioned stimulus, when the long-term fear memory was formed, diminished the retention of the long-term memory. Our results reveal a novel form of the auditory fear memory depending on striatal neurons at the low-intensity unconditioned stimulus.

Actin polymerization in lateral amygdala is essential for fear memory formation

Actin polymerization is involved in key neuronal functions such as intracellular trafficking and morphogenesis. In this study, we examined the role of actin polymerization in lateral amygdala (LA) in fear conditioning memory formation. Microinfusion of cytochalasin D, an actin polymerization inhibitor, into rat LA immediately before fear conditioning training impaired the formation of long-term fear memory (LTM) but not short-term fear memory (STM). Microinfusion of cytochalasin D into rat LA immediately after fear conditioning impaired LTM. Cytochalasin D had no effect on fear conditioning memory retrieval when injected immediately before LTM test. These results show that actin cytoskeleton rearrangement is essential for fear memory consolidation.

Fear memory and the amygdala: insights from a molecular perspective.

The amygdala modulates memory consolidation and the storage of emotionally relevant information in other brain areas, and itself comprises a site of neural plasticity during aversive learning. These processes have been intensively studied in Pavlovian fear conditioning, a leading aversive learning paradigm that is dependent on the structural and functional integrity of the amygdala. The rapidness and persistence, and the relative ease, with which this conditioning paradigm can be applied to a great variety of species have made it an attractive model for neurochemical and electrophysiological investigations on memory formation. In this review we summarise recent studies which have begun to unravel cellular processes in the amygdala that are critical for the formation of long-term fear memory and have identified molecular factors and mechanisms of neural plasticity in this brain area.