Title

Cornering the Fear Engram: Long-Term Synaptic Changes in the Lateral Nucleus of the Amygdala after Fear Conditioning.

Authors

Jeong-Tae Kwon; June-Seek Choi

Abstract

Use-dependent synaptic modifications in the lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA) have been suggested to be the cellular analog of memory trace after pavlovian fear conditioning. However, whether neurophysiological changes in the LA are produced as a direct consequence of associative learning awaits additional proof. Using microstimulation of the medial geniculate nucleus of the thalamus as the conditioned stimulus (CS), we demonstrated that contingent pairings of the brain-stimulation CS and a footshock unconditioned stimulus lead to enhanced synaptic efficacy in the thalamic input to the LA, supporting the hypothesis that localized synaptic alterations underlie fear memory formation.

Subjects

NERVE tissue proteins; CLASSICAL conditioning; AMYGDALOID body; BRAIN stimulation; NEUROPHYSIOLOGY; NEUROSCIENCES

Publication

Journal of Neuroscience, 2009, Vol 29, Issue 31, p9700

ISSN

0270-6474

Publication type

Academic Journal

DOI

10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5928-08.2009