Medial prefrontal cortex activation facilitates re-extinction of fear in rats

Pharmacological stimulation of infralimbic cortex after fear conditioning facilitates subsequent fear extinction

The infralimbic (IL) division of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is a crucial site for extinction of conditioned fear memories in rodents. Recent work suggests that neuronal plasticity in the IL that occurs during (or soon after) fear conditioning enables subsequent IL-dependent extinction learning. We therefore hypothesized that pharmacological activation of the IL after fear conditioning would promote the extinction of conditioned fear. To test this hypothesis, we characterized the effects of post-conditioning infusions of the GABAA receptor antagonist, picrotoxin, into the IL on extinction of auditory conditioned freezing in male and female rats. In four experiments, we found that picrotoxin injections performed immediately, 24 hours, or 13 days after fear conditioning reduced conditioned freezing to the auditory conditioned stimulus (CS) during both extinction training and extinction retrieval; this effect was observed up to two weeks after picrotoxin infusions. Interestingly, inhibiting protein synthesis inhibition in the IL immediately after fear conditioning prevented the inhibition of freezing by picrotoxin injected 24 hours later. Our data suggest that the IL encodes an inhibitory memory during the consolidation of fear conditioning that is necessary for future fear suppression.

Neural circuits for the adaptive regulation of fear and extinction memory

The regulation of fear memories is critical for adaptive behaviors and dysregulation of these processes is implicated in trauma- and stress-related disorders. Treatments for these disorders include pharmacological interventions as well as exposure-based therapies, which rely upon extinction learning. Considerable attention has been directed toward elucidating the neural mechanisms underlying fear and extinction learning. In this review, we will discuss historic discoveries and emerging evidence on the neural mechanisms of the adaptive regulation of fear and extinction memories. We will focus on neural circuits regulating the acquisition and extinction of Pavlovian fear conditioning in rodent models, particularly the role of the medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus in the contextual control of extinguished fear memories. We will also consider new work revealing an important role for the thalamic nucleus reuniens in the modulation of prefrontal-hippocampal interactions in extinction learning and memory. Finally, we will explore the effects of stress on this circuit and the clinical implications of these findings.

Parvalbumin-Positive Interneurons in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex Regulate Stress-Induced Fear Extinction Impairments in Male and Female Rats

Stress has profound effects on fear extinction, a form of learning that is essential to behavioral therapies for trauma-related and stressor-related disorders. Recent work reveals that acute footshock stress reduces medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) activity that is critical for extinction learning. Reductions in mPFC activity may be mediated by parvalbumin (PV)-containing interneurons via feedforward inhibition imposed by amygdala afferents. To test this hypothesis, footshock stress-induced Fos expression was characterized in PV+ and PV- neurons in the prelimbic (PL) and infralimbic (IL) cortices. Footshock stress increased the proportion of PV+ cells expressing Fos in both male and female rats; this effect was more pronounced in IL compared with PL. To determine whether PV+ interneurons in the mPFC mediate stress-induced extinction impairments, we chemogenetically silenced these neurons before an immediate extinction procedure in PV-Cre rats. Clozapine-N-oxide (CNO) did not affect conditioned freezing during the extinction procedure. However, CNO exacerbated extinction retrieval in both male and female rats with relatively high PL expression of designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADD). In contrast, in rats with relatively high IL DREADD expression, CNO produced a modest facilitation of extinction in the earliest retrieval trials, but in male rats only. Conversely, excitation of IL PV interneurons was sufficient to impair delayed extinction in both male and female rats. Finally, chemogenetic inhibition of IL-projecting amygdala neurons reduced the immediate extinction deficit in male, but not female rats. These results reveal that PV interneurons regulate extinction learning under stress in a sex-dependent manner, and this effect is mediated by amygdaloprefrontal projections.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Stress significantly impairs the memory of fear extinction, a type of learning that is central to behavioral therapies for trauma-based and anxiety-based disorders (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder). Here we show that acute footshock stress recruits parvalbumin (PV) interneurons in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of male and female rats. Silencing mPFC PV interneurons or mPFC-projecting amygdala neurons during immediate extinction influenced extinction retrieval in a sex-dependent manner. This work highlights the role for PV-containing mPFC interneurons in stress-induced impairments in extinction learning.

NMDAR-dependent synaptic potentiation via APPL1 signaling is required for the accessibility of a prefrontal neuronal assembly in retrieving fear extinction

BACKGROUND

The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) has been viewed as a locus to store and recall extinction memory. However, the synaptic and cellular mechanisms underlying this process remain elusive.

METHODS

We combined transgenic mice, electrophysiological recording, activity-dependent cell labeling, and chemogenetic manipulation to analyze the role of adaptor protein APPL1 in the vmPFC for fear extinction retrieval.

RESULTS

We found that both constitutive and conditional APPL1 knockout decreases NMDA receptor (NMDAR) function in the vmPFC and impairs fear extinction retrieval. Moreover, APPL1 undergoes nuclear translocation during extinction retrieval. Blocking APPL1 nucleocytoplasmic translocation reduces NMDAR currents and disrupts extinction retrieval. We further identified a prefrontal neuronal ensemble that is both necessary and sufficient for the storage of extinction memory. Inducible APPL1 knockout in this ensemble abolishes NMDAR-dependent synaptic potentiation and disrupts extinction retrieval, while simultaneously chemogenetic activation of this ensemble rescues the impaired behaviors.

CONCLUSIONS

Therefore, our results indicate that a prefrontal neuronal ensemble stores extinction memory, and APPL1 signaling supports these neurons to retrieve extinction memory via controlling NMDAR-dependent potentiation.

Prefrontal GABAA(δ)R Promotes Fear Extinction through Enabling the Plastic Regulation of Neuronal Intrinsic Excitability

Extinguishing the previously acquired fear is critical for the adaptation of an organism to the ever-changing environment, a process requiring the engagement of GABAA receptors (GABAARs). GABAARs consist of tens of structurally, pharmacologically, and functionally heterogeneous subtypes. However, the specific roles of these subtypes in fear extinction remain largely unexplored. Here, we observed that in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), a core region for mood regulation, the extrasynaptically situated, δ-subunit-containing GABAARs [GABAA(δ)Rs], had a permissive role in tuning fear extinction in male mice, an effect sharply contrasting to the established but suppressive role by the whole GABAAR family. First, the fear extinction in individual mice was positively correlated with the level of GABAA(δ)R expression and function in their mPFC. Second, knockdown of GABAA(δ)R in mPFC, specifically in its infralimbic (IL) subregion, sufficed to impair the fear extinction in mice. Third, GABAA(δ)R-deficient mice also showed fear extinction deficits, and re-expressing GABAA(δ)Rs in the IL of these mice rescued the impaired extinction. Further mechanistic studies demonstrated that the permissive effect of GABAA(δ)R was associated with its role in enabling the extinction-evoked plastic regulation of neuronal excitability in IL projection neurons. By contrast, GABAA(δ)R had little influence on the extinction-evoked plasticity of glutamatergic transmission in these cells. Altogether, our findings revealed an unconventional and permissive role of extrasynaptic GABAA receptors in fear extinction through a route relying on nonsynaptic plasticity.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is one of the kernel brain regions engaged in fear extinction. Previous studies have repetitively shown that the GABAA receptor (GABAAR) family in this region act to suppress fear extinction. However, the roles of specific GABAAR subtypes in mPFC are largely unknown. We observed that the GABAAR-containing δ-subunit [GABAA(δ)R], a subtype of GABAARs exclusively situated in the extrasynaptic membrane and mediating the tonic neuronal inhibition, works oppositely to the whole GABAAR family and promotes (but does not suppress) fear extinction. More interestingly, in striking contrast to the synaptic GABAARs that suppress fear extinction by breaking the extinction-evoked plasticity of glutamatergic transmission, the GABAA(δ)R promotes fear extinction through enabling the plastic regulation of neuronal excitability in the infralimbic subregion of mPFC. Our findings thus reveal an unconventional role of GABAA(δ)R in promoting fear extinction through a route relying on nonsynaptic plasticity.

Cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation on the prefrontal cortex applied after reactivation attenuates fear memories and prevent reinstatement after extinction

BACKGROUND

In the last decade, pharmacological strategies targeting reconsolidation after memory retrieval have shown promising efforts to attenuate persistent memories and overcome fear recovery. However, most reconsolidation inhibiting agents have not been approved for human testing. While non-invasive neuromodulation can be considered an alternative approach to pharmacological treatments, there is a lack of evidence about the efficacy of these technologies when modifying memory traces via reactivation/reconsolidation mechanism.

OBJECTIVE

In this study, we evaluate the effect of cathodal (c-tDCS) and anodal (a-DCS) transcranial direct current stimulation applied after memory reactivation and extinction in rats.

METHODS

Male Wistar rats were randomly assigned into three groups: one sham group, one anodal tDCS group, and one cathodal tDCS group (500 μA, 20 min). Reconsolidation and extinction of fear memories were evaluated using a contextual fear conditioning.

RESULTS

Our results showed that c-tDCS and a-tDCS after memory reactivation can attenuate mild fear memories. However, only c-tDCS stimulation prevented both fear expression under strong fear learning and fear recovery after a reinstatement protocol without modification of learning rate or extinction retrieval. Nevertheless, the remote memories were resistant to modification through this type of neuromodulation. Our results are discussed considering the interaction between intrinsic excitability promoted by learning and memory retrieval and the electric field applied during tDCS.

CONCLUSION

These results point out some of the boundary conditions influencing the efficacy of tDCS in fear attenuation and open new ways for the development of noninvasive interventions aimed to control fear-related disorders via reconsolidation.

Structure, Function, and Pharmacology of Glutamate Receptor Ion Channels

Many physiologic effects of l-glutamate, the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system, are mediated via signaling by ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs). These ligand-gated ion channels are critical to brain function and are centrally implicated in numerous psychiatric and neurologic disorders. There are different classes of iGluRs with a variety of receptor subtypes in each class that play distinct roles in neuronal functions. The diversity in iGluR subtypes, with their unique functional properties and physiologic roles, has motivated a large number of studies. Our understanding of receptor subtypes has advanced considerably since the first iGluR subunit gene was cloned in 1989, and the research focus has expanded to encompass facets of biology that have been recently discovered and to exploit experimental paradigms made possible by technological advances. Here, we review insights from more than 3 decades of iGluR studies with an emphasis on the progress that has occurred in the past decade. We cover structure, function, pharmacology, roles in neurophysiology, and therapeutic implications for all classes of receptors assembled from the subunits encoded by the 18 ionotropic glutamate receptor genes. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Glutamate receptors play important roles in virtually all aspects of brain function and are either involved in mediating some clinical features of neurological disease or represent a therapeutic target for treatment. Therefore, understanding the structure, function, and pharmacology of this class of receptors will advance our understanding of many aspects of brain function at molecular, cellular, and system levels and provide new opportunities to treat patients.

Oxytocin and Fear Memory Extinction: Possible Implications for the Therapy of Fear Disorders?

Several psychiatric conditions such as phobias, generalized anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are characterized by pathological fear and anxiety. The main therapeutic approach used in the management of these disorders is exposure-based therapy, which is conceptually based upon fear extinction with the formation of a new safe memory association, allowing the reduction in behavioral conditioned fear responses. Nevertheless, this approach is only partially resolutive, since many patients have difficulty following the demanding and long process, and relapses are frequently observed over time. One strategy to improve the efficacy of the cognitive therapy is the combination with pharmacological agents. Therefore, the identification of compounds able to strengthen the formation and persistence of the inhibitory associations is a key goal. Recently, growing interest has been aroused by the neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT), which has been shown to have anxiolytic effects. Furthermore, OXT receptors and binding sites have been found in the critical brain structures involved in fear extinction. In this review, the recent literature addressing the complex effects of OXT on fear extinction at preclinical and clinical levels is discussed. These studies suggest that the OXT roles in fear behavior are due to its local effects in several brain regions, most notably, distinct amygdaloid regions.

Astrocytic NMDA Receptors in the Basolateral Amygdala Contribute to Facilitation of Fear Extinction

BACKGROUND

Enhancement of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor function using glycine-site agonist D-cycloserine is known to facilitate fear extinction, providing a means to augment cognitive behavioral therapy in anxiety disorders. A novel class of glycine-site agonists has recently been identified, and we have found that the prototype, AICP, is more effective than D-cycloserine in modulating neuronal function.

METHODS

Using novel glycine-site agonist AICP, local infusion studies, and genetic models, we elucidated the role of GluN2C-containing receptors in fear extinction.

RESULTS

We tested the effect of intracerebroventricular injection of AICP on fear extinction and found a robust facilitation of fear extinction. This effect was dependent on GluN2C subunit, consistent with superagonist action of AICP at GluN2C-containing receptors. Local infusion studies in wild-type and GluN2C knockout mice suggested that AICP produces its effect via GluN2C-containing receptors in the basolateral amygdala (BLA). Furthermore, consistent with astrocytic expression of GluN2C subunit in the amygdala, we found that AICP did not facilitate fear extinction in mice with conditional deletion of obligatory GluN1 subunit from astrocytes. Importantly, chemogenetic activation of astrocytes in the basolateral amygdala facilitated fear extinction. Acutely, AICP was found to facilitate excitatory neurotransmission in the BLA via presynaptic GluN2C-dependent mechanism. Immunohistochemical studies suggest that AICP-mediated facilitation of fear extinction involves synaptic insertion of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) receptor GluA1 subunit.

CONCLUSION

These results identify a unique role of astrocytic NMDA receptors composed of GluN2C subunit in extinction of conditioned fear memory and demonstrate that further development of recently identified superagonists of GluN2C-containing receptors may have utility for anxiety disorders.

A Focus on the Functions of Area 25

Subcallosal area 25 is one of the least understood regions of the anterior cingulate cortex, but activity in this area is emerging as a crucial correlate of mood and affective disorder symptomatology. The cortical and subcortical connectivity of area 25 suggests it may act as an interface between the bioregulatory and emotional states that are aberrant in disorders such as depression. However, evidence for such a role is limited because of uncertainty over the functional homologue of area 25 in rodents, which hinders cross-species translation. This emphasizes the need for causal manipulations in monkeys in which area 25, and the prefrontal and cingulate regions in which it is embedded, resemble those of humans more than rodents. In this review, we consider physiological and behavioral evidence from non-pathological and pathological studies in humans and from manipulations of area 25 in monkeys and its putative homologue, the infralimbic cortex (IL), in rodents. We highlight the similarities between area 25 function in monkeys and IL function in rodents with respect to the regulation of reward-driven responses, but also the apparent inconsistencies in the regulation of threat responses, not only between the rodent and monkey literatures, but also within the rodent literature. Overall, we provide evidence for a causal role of area 25 in both the enhanced negative affect and decreased positive affect that is characteristic of affective disorders, and the cardiovascular and endocrine perturbations that accompany these mood changes. We end with a brief consideration of how future studies should be tailored to best translate these findings into the clinic.

The immediate extinction deficit occurs in a nonemotional learning paradigm

The immediate extinction deficit describes a higher return of fear when extinction takes place immediately after fear acquisition compared to a delayed extinction design. One explanation for this phenomenon encompasses the remaining emotional arousal evoked by fear acquisition to be still present during immediate, but not delayed extinction. In the present study, the predictive learning task, a learning task not involving arousal or stress, was used testing the hypothesis that no immediate extinction deficit should occur in this neutral task. Twenty-six participants underwent an immediate extinction procedure and were tested in a recall session 24 h later. For the delayed extinction group (n = 26), acquisition, extinction, and recall were realized 24 h apart from each other. Recall performance of a third group (n = 26) was tested 48 h after the immediate extinction procedure. The immediate extinction deficit was indeed observed for a stimulus not subject to a contextual change from acquisition to extinction, but not for other stimuli involving contextual changes or no extinction control stimuli. Even in a neutral learning task and without emotional arousal, the immediate extinction deficit could be detected but was restricted to the specific contextual embedding of stimuli. Thus, contextual processing appears to differentially modulate the emergence of the immediate extinction deficit.

Preclinical studies of stress, extinction, and prefrontal cortex: intriguing leads and pressing questions

BACKGROUND

Stress is associated with cognitive and emotional dysfunction, and increases risk for a variety of psychological disorders, including depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. Prefrontal cortex is critical for executive function and emotion regulation, is a target for stress hormones, and is implicated in many stress-influenced psychological disorders. Extinction of conditioned fear provides an excellent model system for examining how stress-induced changes in corticolimbic structure and function are related to stress-induced changes in neural function and behavior, as the neural circuitry underlying this behavior is well characterized.

OBJECTIVES

This review examines how acute and chronic stress influences extinction and describes how stress alters the structure and function of the medial prefrontal cortex, a potential neural substrate for these effects. In addition, we identify important unanswered questions about how stress-induced change in prefrontal cortex may mediate extinction deficits and avenues for future research.

KEY FINDINGS

A substantial body of work demonstrates deficits in extinction after either acute or chronic stress. A separate and substantial literature demonstrates stress-induced neuronal remodeling in medial prefrontal cortex, along with several key neurohormonal contributors to this remodeling, and there is substantial overlap in prefrontal mechanisms underlying extinction and the mechanisms implicated in stress-induced dysfunction of-and neuronal remodeling in-medial prefrontal cortex. However, data directly examining the contribution of changes in prefrontal structure and function to stress-induced extinction deficits is currently lacking.

CONCLUSIONS

Understanding how stress influences extinction and its neural substrates as well as individual differences in this effect will elucidate potential avenues for novel interventions for stress-sensitive disorders characterized by deficits in extinction.

The GABAergic system in prefrontal cortex and hippocampus modulates context-related extinction learning and renewal in humans

Context-related extinction learning and renewal in humans is mediated by hippocampal and prefrontal regions. Renewal is defined as the reoccurrence of an extinguished response if the contexts present during extinction learning and recall differ. Animal studies implicate hippocampal γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) A receptors in extinction and renewal. However, human studies on GABAergic mechanisms in extinction learning are lacking. In this fMRI study, we therefore investigated the role of the GABAergic system in context-related extinction learning and renewal. Participants treated with the GABA A agonist lorazepam prior to extinction learning were impaired in encoding changed associations during extinction learning, regardless of context, and in retrieving extinction associations during recall. In contrast, retrieval of associations learned during acquisition was largely unaffected, which led to reduced genuine renewal, since acquisition associations were retrieved context-independently. These deficits, which were presumably due to weak encoding of extinction associations, were related to altered BOLD activation in regions relevant for context processing and retrieval, as well as response selection: reduced activation in bilateral PFC and hippocampus during extinction learning and recall, and increased ventromedial/orbitofrontal cortex activation during recall. Our findings indicate that the GABergic system is involved in context-related extinction learning and recall in humans, by modulating hippocampus-based context processing and PFC-based processing of changed associations and subsequent response selection.

Extinction and Latent Inhibition Involve a Similar Form of Inhibitory Learning that is Stored in and Retrieved from the Infralimbic Cortex

Extinction and latent inhibition each refer to a reduction in conditioned responding: the former occurs when pairings of a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US) are followed by repeated presentations of the CS alone; the latter occurs when CS alone presentations precede its pairings with the US. The present experiments used fear conditioning to test the hypothesis that both phenomena involve a similar form of inhibitory learning that recruits common neuronal substrates. We found that the initial inhibitory memory established by extinction is reactivated in the infralimbic (IL) cortex during additional extinction. Remarkably, this reactivation also occurs when the initial inhibitory memory had been established by latent inhibition. In both cases, the inhibitory memory was strengthened by pharmacological stimulation of the IL. Moreover, NMDA receptor blockade in the IL disrupted the weakening in conditioned responding produced by either latent inhibition or extinction. These findings, therefore, indicate that latent inhibition and extinction produce a similar inhibitory memory that is retrieved from the IL. They also demonstrate that the IL plays a wide role in fear regulation by promoting the retrieval of inhibitory memories generated by CS alone presentations either before or after this CS has been rendered dangerous.

Decreased level of histone acetylation in the infralimbic prefrontal cortex following immediate extinction may result in deficit of extinction memory

In the last few decades, there has been exponential increase in studies aiming to trace the molecular mechanism of fear extinction with a hope to minimize the return of fear after exposure therapy required for operational treatment of anxiety disorders. The present study explored how the timing of extinction training after developing a specific fear, affects the consequent return of the extinguished fear and the role of histone acetylation in controlling the circuitry, thereof. It was found that rats undergone extinction training 10 min. after fear memory acquisition (Immediate Extinction) had deficits in retention of extinction memory as compared to one which underwent extinction 24 h after fear acquisition (Delayed Extinction). When the differences were sorted at the circuitry level the relative activity of the infralimbic prefrontal cortex (IL) to prelimbic cortex (PL) was found to be lower in the immediate extinction group as compared to the delayed extinction group as evidenced by the c-fos expression in the mPFC of these groups. Further investigation showed that acetylation of histone H3/H4 along with the levels of CREB binding protein (CBP) which is a histone acetyltransferase (HAT), was associated with neuronal activation and was significantly lower in the IL of the immediate extinction group than the delayed extinction group. In conclusion, the observed deficits in the immediate extinction group may be the result of compromised activation of IL, which in turn may be associated with changes in histone acetylation.

The infralimbic cortex encodes inhibition irrespective of motivational significance

Evidence indicates that the infralimbic cortex (IL) encodes and retrieves the inhibitory memory produced by fear extinction. Recently, we have shown that the IL is also involved in the inhibitory memory generated by stimulus pre-exposure that causes latent inhibition. These results are surprising because a stimulus undergoing fear extinction carries aversive motivational value, whereas a pre-exposed stimulus is neutral. The present experiments tested the hypothesis that the IL encodes inhibition irrespective of the motivational information about the stimulus. Using rats, we first confirmed that IL activity during stimulus pre-exposure is required for latent inhibition. Then, we found that pharmacological stimulation of the IL facilitated aversive extinction to a stimulus that had been trained and extinguished as an appetitive stimulus. This facilitation was stimulus specific and required appetitive extinction. The same facilitation was found when appetitive extinction was replaced with random presentations of the stimulus and an appetitive outcome. Together, these findings indicate that non-reinforced stimulus presentations establish an inhibitory memory that is reactivated and strengthened in the IL during subsequent aversive extinction. This is consistent with the view that the IL encodes inhibition irrespective of motivational value, suggesting that this brain region plays a general role in inhibitory learning.

Layer- and subregion-specific differences in the neurophysiological properties of rat medial prefrontal cortex pyramidal neurons

Medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is critical for the expression of long-term conditioned fear. However, the neural circuits involving fear memory acquisition and retrieval are still unclear. Two subregions within mPFC that have received a lot of attention are the prelimbic (PL) and infralimbic (IL) cortices (e.g., Santini E, Quirk GJ, Porter JT. J Neurosci 28: 4028-4036, 2008; Song C, Ehlers VL, Moyer JR Jr J Neurosci 35: 13511-13524, 2015). Interestingly, PL and IL may play distinct roles during fear memory acquisition and retrieval but the underlying mechanism is poorly understood. One possibility is that the intrinsic membrane properties differ between these subregions. Thus, the current study was carried out to characterize the basic membrane properties of mPFC neurons in different layers and subregions. We found that pyramidal neurons in L2/3 were more hyperpolarized and less excitable than in L5. This was observed in both IL and PL and was associated with an enhanced h-current in L5 neurons. Within L2/3, IL neurons were more excitable than those in PL, which may be due to a lower spike threshold and higher input resistance in IL neurons. Within L5, the intrinsic excitability was comparable between neurons obtained in IL and PL. Thus, the heterogeneity in physiological properties of mPFC neurons may underlie the observed subregion-specific contribution of mPFC in cognitive function and emotional control, such as fear memory expression. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This is the first study to demonstrate that medial prefrontal cortical (mPFC) neurons are heterogeneous in both a layer- and a subregion-specific manner. Specifically, L5 neurons are more depolarized and more excitable than those neurons in L2/3, which is likely due to variations in h-current. Also, infralimbic neurons are more excitable than those of prelimbic neurons in layer 2/3, which may be due to differences in certain intrinsic properties, including input resistance and spike threshold.

Acute exercise enhances the consolidation of fear extinction memory and reduces conditioned fear relapse in a sex-dependent manner

Fear extinction-based exposure therapy is the most common behavioral therapy for anxiety and trauma-related disorders, but fear extinction memories are labile and fear tends to return even after successful extinction. The relapse of fear contributes to the poor long-term efficacy of exposure therapy. A single session of voluntary exercise can enhance the acquisition and consolidation of fear extinction in male rats, but the effects of exercise on relapse of fear after extinction are not well understood. Here, we characterized the effects of 2 h of voluntary exercise during the consolidation phase of contextual or auditory fear extinction learning on long-term fear extinction memory and renewal in adult, male and female, Long-Evans rats. Results indicate that exercise enhances consolidation of fear extinction memory and reduces fear relapse after extinction in a sex-dependent manner. These data suggest that brief bouts of exercise could be used as an augmentation strategy for exposure therapy, even in previously sedentary subjects. Fear memories of discrete cues, rather than of contextual ones, may be most susceptible to exercise-augmented extinction, especially in males. Additionally, exercise seems to have the biggest impact on fear relapse phenomena, even if fear extinction memories themselves are only minimally enhanced.

Freezing response-independent facilitation of fear extinction memory in the prefrontal cortex

The infralimbic cortex (IL) is known to facilitate the formation of extinction memory through reciprocal interactions with the amygdala, which produces fear responses such as freezing. Thus, whether presynaptic input from the amygdala and post-synaptic output of IL neurons are functionally dissociated in extinction memory formation remains unclear. Here, we demonstrated that photostimulation of IL inputs from BLA did not change freezing responses to conditioned stimuli (CS) during training, but did facilitate extinction memory, measured as a reduction in freezing responses to the CS 1 day later. On the other hand, photostimulation of somata of IL neurons induced an immediate reduction in freezing to CS, but this did not affect extinction memory tested the next day. These results provide in vivo evidence for IL-dependent facilitation of extinction memory without post-synaptic modulation of freezing circuits.

Functional and neurochemical interactions within the amygdala-medial prefrontal cortex circuit and their relevance to emotional processing

The amygdala-medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) circuit plays a key role in emotional processing. GABA-ergic inhibition within the mPFC has been suggested to play a role in the shaping of amygdala activity. However, the functional and neurochemical interactions within the amygdala-mPFC circuits and their relevance to emotional processing remain unclear. To investigate this circuit, we obtained resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and proton MR spectroscopy in 21 healthy subjects to assess the potential relationship between GABA levels within mPFC and the amygdala-mPFC functional connectivity. Trait anxiety was assessed using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y2). Partial correlations were used to measure the relationships among the functional connectivity outcomes, mPFC GABA levels and STAI-Y2 scores. Age, educational level and amount of the gray and white matters within 1H-MRS volume of interest were included as nuisance variables. The rs-fMRI signals of the amygdala and the vmPFC were significantly anti-correlated. This negative functional coupling between the two regions was inversely correlated with the GABA+/tCr level within the mPFC and the STAI-Y2 scores. We suggest a close relationship between mPFC GABA levels and functional interactions within the amygdala-vmPFC circuit, providing new insights in the physiology of emotion.

D-cycloserine in Schizophrenia: New Strategies for Improving Clinical Outcomes by Enhancing Plasticity

Background

Dysregulation of N-methyl D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor signaling is strongly implicated in schizophrenia. Based on the ketamine model of NMDA receptor hypoactivity, therapeutic approaches designed to maintain a sustained increase in agonist activity at the glycine site of the NMDA receptor have produced promising, although inconsistent, efficacy for negative symptoms.

Methods

A review of the published literature on D-cycloserine (DCS) pharmacology in animal models and in clinical studies was performed. Findings relevant to DCS effects on memory and plasticity and their potential clinical application to schizophrenia were summarized.

Results

Studies in animals and clinical trials in patients with anxiety disorders have demonstrated that single or intermittent dosing with DCS enhances memory consolidation. Preliminary trials in patients with schizophrenia suggest that intermittent dosing with DCS may produce persistent improvement of negative symptoms and enhance learning when combined with cognitive behavioral therapy for delusions or with cognitive remediation. The pharmacology of DCS is complex, since it acts as a “super agonist” at NMDA receptors containing GluN2C subunits and, under certain conditions, it may act as an antagonist at NMDA receptors containing GluN2B subunits.

Conclusions

There are preliminary findings that support a role for D-cycloserine in schizophrenia as a strategy to enhance neuroplasticity and memory. However, additional studies with DCS are needed to confirm these findings. In addition, clinical trials with positive and negative allosteric modulators with greater specificity for NMDA receptor subtypes are needed to identify the optimal strategy for enhancing neuroplasticity in schizophrenia.

Conditioned inhibitory and excitatory gain modulations of visual cortex in fear conditioning: Effects of analysis strategies of magnetocortical responses

In unpredictable environments, stimuli that predict potential danger or its absence can change rapidly. Therefore, it is highly adaptive to prioritize incoming sensory information flexibly as a function of prior experience. Previously, these changes have only been conceptualized as excitatory gain increases in sensory cortices for acquired fear-relevant stimuli during associative learning. However, formal descriptions of associative processes by Rescorla and Wagner predict both conditioned excitatory and inhibitory processes in response systems for fear and safety cues, respectively. Magnetocortical steady-state visual evoked fields (ssVEFs) have been shown to vary in amplitude as a function of associative strength. Therefore, we wondered why previous studies reporting ssVEF modulations by fear learning did not observe conditioned inhibition of ssVEF responses for the safety cue. Three analysis strategies were applied: (1) traditional analysis of ssVEF amplitude at occipital MEG sensors, (2) applying a general linear model (GLM) at each sensor, and (3) fitting the same GLM to cortically localized ssVEF responses. First, we replicated previous findings of increased ssVEFs for acquired fear-relevant stimuli using all three analysis strategies. Critically, we demonstrated conditioned inhibition of ssVEF responses for fear-irrelevant cues for specific gradiometer sensor types using the traditional analysis technique and for all sensor types when applying a GLM to the sensor space. However, sensor space effects were rather small. In stark contrast, cortical source space effect sizes were most pronounced. The results of opposing CS+ and CS- modulations in sensory cortex reflect predictions of the Rescorla-Wagner model and current neurobiological findings.

Fear Expression Suppresses Medial Prefrontal Cortical Firing in Rats

The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) plays a crucial role in emotional learning and memory in rodents and humans. While many studies suggest a differential role for the prelimbic (PL) and infralimbic (IL) subdivisions of mPFC, few have considered the relationship between neural activity in these two brain regions recorded simultaneously in behaving animals. Importantly, how concurrent PL and IL activity relate to conditioned freezing behavior is largely unknown. Here we used single-unit recordings targeting PL and IL in awake, behaving rats during the acquisition and expression of conditioned fear. On Day 1, rats received either signaled or unsignaled footshocks in the recording chamber; an auditory conditioned stimulus (CS) preceded signaled footshocks. Twenty-four hours later, animals were returned to the recording chamber (modified to create a novel context) where they received 5 CS-alone trials. After fear conditioning, both signaled and unsignaled rats exhibited high levels of post-shock freezing that was associated with an enduring suppression of mPFC spontaneous firing, particularly in the IL of signaled rats. Twenty-four hours later, CS presentation produced differential conditioned freezing in signaled and unsignaled rats: freezing increased in rats that had received signaled shocks, but decreased in animals in the unsignaled condition (i.e., external inhibition). This group difference in CS-evoked freezing was mirrored in the spontaneous firing rate of neurons in both PL and IL. Interestingly, differences in PL and IL firing rate highly correlated with freezing levels. In other words, in the signaled group IL spontaneous rates were suppressed relative to PL, perhaps limiting IL-mediated suppression of fear and allowing PL activity to dominate performance, resulting in high levels of freezing. This was not observed in the unsignaled group, which exhibited low freezing. These data reveal that the activity of mPFC neurons is modulated by both associative and nonassociative stimuli that regulate conditioned fear.

Enhancement of Psychosocial Treatment With D-Cycloserine: Models, Moderators, and Future Directions

Advances in the understanding of the neurobiology of fear extinction have resulted in the development of d-cycloserine (DCS), a partial glutamatergic N-methyl-D-aspartate agonist, as an augmentation strategy for exposure treatment. We review a decade of research that has focused on the efficacy of DCS for augmenting the mechanisms (e.g., fear extinction) and outcome of exposure treatment across the anxiety disorders. Following a series of small-scale studies offering strong support for this clinical application, more recent larger-scale studies have yielded mixed results, with some showing weak or no effects. We discuss possible explanations for the mixed findings, pointing to both patient and session (i.e., learning experiences) characteristics as possible moderators of efficacy, and offer directions for future research in this area. We also review recent studies that have aimed to extend the work on DCS augmentation of exposure therapy for the anxiety disorders to DCS enhancement of learning-based interventions for addiction, anorexia nervosa, schizophrenia, and depression. Here, we attend to both DCS effects on facilitating therapeutic outcomes and additional therapeutic mechanisms beyond fear extinction (e.g., appetitive extinction, hippocampal-dependent learning).

Specific Targeting of the Basolateral Amygdala to Projectionally Defined Pyramidal Neurons in Prelimbic and Infralimbic Cortex

Adjacent prelimbic (PL) and infralimbic (IL) regions in the medial prefrontal cortex have distinct roles in emotional learning. A complete mechanistic understanding underlying this dichotomy remains unclear. Here we explored targeting of specific PL and IL neurons by the basolateral amygdala (BLA), a limbic structure pivotal in pain and fear processing. In mice, we used retrograde labeling, brain-slice recordings, and adenoviral optogenetics to dissect connectivity of ascending BLA input onto PL and IL neurons projecting to the periaqueductal gray (PAG) or the amygdala. We found differential targeting of BLA projections to PL and IL cortex. Activating BLA projections evoked excitatory and inhibitory responses in cortico-PAG (CP) neurons in layer 5 (L5) of both PL and IL cortex. However, all inhibitory responses were polysynaptic and monosynaptic BLA input was stronger to CP neurons in IL cortex. Conversely, the BLA preferentially targeted corticoamygdalar (CA) neurons in layer 2 (L2) of PL over IL cortex. We also reveal that BLA input is projection specific by showing preferential targeting of L5 CP neurons over neighboring L3/5 CA neurons in IL cortex. We conclude by showing that BLA input is laminar-specific by producing stronger excitatory responses CA neurons in L3/5 compared with L2 in IL cortex. Collectively, this study reveals differential targeting of the BLA to PL and IL cortex, which depends both on laminar location and projection target of cortical neurons. Overall, our findings should have important implications for understanding the processing of pain and fear input by the PL and IL cortex.

Stress and Fear Extinction

Stress has a critical role in the development and expression of many psychiatric disorders, and is a defining feature of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Stress also limits the efficacy of behavioral therapies aimed at limiting pathological fear, such as exposure therapy. Here we examine emerging evidence that stress impairs recovery from trauma by impairing fear extinction, a form of learning thought to underlie the suppression of trauma-related fear memories. We describe the major structural and functional abnormalities in brain regions that are particularly vulnerable to stress, including the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus, which may underlie stress-induced impairments in extinction. We also discuss some of the stress-induced neurochemical and molecular alterations in these brain regions that are associated with extinction deficits, and the potential for targeting these changes to prevent or reverse impaired extinction. A better understanding of the neurobiological basis of stress effects on extinction promises to yield novel approaches to improving therapeutic outcomes for PTSD and other anxiety and trauma-related disorders.

The Role of the Medial Prefrontal Cortex in the Conditioning and Extinction of Fear

Once acquired, a fearful memory can persist for a lifetime. Although learned fear can be extinguished, extinction memories are fragile. The resilience of fear memories to extinction may contribute to the maintenance of disorders of fear and anxiety, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As such, considerable effort has been placed on understanding the neural circuitry underlying the acquisition, expression, and extinction of emotional memories in rodent models as well as in humans. A triad of brain regions, including the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and amygdala, form an essential brain circuit involved in fear conditioning and extinction. Within this circuit, the prefrontal cortex is thought to exert top-down control over subcortical structures to regulate appropriate behavioral responses. Importantly, a division of labor has been proposed in which the prelimbic (PL) and infralimbic (IL) subdivisions of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) regulate the expression and suppression of fear in rodents, respectively. Here, we critically review the anatomical and physiological evidence that has led to this proposed dichotomy of function within mPFC. We propose that under some conditions, the PL and IL act in concert, exhibiting similar patterns of neural activity in response to aversive conditioned stimuli and during the expression or inhibition of conditioned fear. This may stem from common synaptic inputs, parallel downstream outputs, or cortico-cortical interactions. Despite this functional covariation, these mPFC subdivisions may still be coding for largely opposing behavioral outcomes, with PL biased towards fear expression and IL towards suppression.

Mechanisms to medicines: elucidating neural and molecular substrates of fear extinction to identify novel treatments for anxiety disorders

The burden of anxiety disorders is growing, but the efficacy of available anxiolytic treatments remains inadequate. Cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety disorders focuses on identifying and modifying maladaptive patterns of thinking and behaving, and has a testable analogue in rodents in the form of fear extinction. A large preclinical literature has amassed in recent years describing the neural and molecular basis of fear extinction in rodents. In this review, we discuss how this work is being harnessed to foster translational research on anxiety disorders and facilitate the search for new anxiolytic treatments. We begin by summarizing the anatomical and functional connectivity of a medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC)-amygdala circuit that subserves fear extinction, including new insights from optogenetics. We then cover some of the approaches that have been taken to model impaired fear extinction and associated impairments with mPFC-amygdala dysfunction. The principal goal of the review is to evaluate evidence that various neurotransmitter and neuromodulator systems mediate fear extinction by modulating the mPFC-amygdala circuitry. To that end, we describe studies that have tested how fear extinction is impaired or facilitated by pharmacological manipulations of dopamine, noradrenaline, 5-HT, GABA, glutamate, neuropeptides, endocannabinoids and various other systems, which either directly target the mPFC-amygdala circuit, or produce behavioural effects that are coincident with functional changes in the circuit. We conclude that there are good grounds to be optimistic that the progress in defining the molecular substrates of mPFC-amygdala circuit function can be effectively leveraged to identify plausible candidates for extinction-promoting therapies for anxiety disorders.

Can fear extinction be enhanced? A review of pharmacological and behavioral findings

There is considerable interest, from both a basic and clinical standpoint, in gaining a greater understanding of how pharmaceutical or behavioral manipulations alter fear extinction in animals. Not only does fear extinction in rodents model exposure therapy in humans, where the latter is a cornerstone of behavioral intervention for anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder and specific phobias, but also understanding more about extinction provides basic information into learning and memory processes and their underlying circuitry. In this paper, we briefly review three principal approaches that have been used to modulate extinction processes in animals and humans: a purely pharmacological approach, the more widespread approach of combining pharmacology with behavior, and a purely behavioral approach. The pharmacological studies comprise modulation by: brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), d-cycloserine, serotonergic and noradrenergic drugs, neuropeptides, endocannabinoids, glucocorticoids, histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors, and others. These studies strongly suggest that extinction can be modulated by drugs, behavioral interventions, or their combination, although not always in a lasting manner. We suggest that pharmacotherapeutic manipulations provide considerable promise for promoting effective and lasting fear reduction in individuals with anxiety disorders. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'Memory enhancement'.

The role of the medial prefrontal cortex in regulating social familiarity-induced anxiolysis

Overcoming specific fears and subsequent anxiety can be greatly enhanced by the presence of familiar social partners, but the neural circuitry that controls this phenomenon remains unclear. To overcome this, the social interaction (SI) habituation test was developed in this lab to systematically investigate the effects of social familiarity on anxiety-like behavior in rats. Here, we show that social familiarity selectively reduced anxiety-like behaviors induced by an ethological anxiogenic stimulus. The anxiolytic effect of social familiarity could be elicited over multiple training sessions and was specific to both the presence of the anxiogenic stimulus and the familiar social partner. In addition, socially familiar conspecifics served as a safety signal, as anxiety-like responses returned in the absence of the familiar partner. The expression of the social familiarity-induced anxiolysis (SFiA) appears dependent on the prefrontal cortex (PFC), an area associated with cortical regulation of fear and anxiety behaviors. Inhibition of the PFC, with bilateral injections of the GABAA agonist muscimol, selectively blocked the expression of SFiA while having no effect on SI with a novel partner. Finally, the effect of D-cycloserine, a cognitive enhancer that clinically enhances behavioral treatments for anxiety, was investigated with SFiA. D-cycloserine, when paired with familiarity training sessions, selectively enhanced the rate at which SFiA was acquired. Collectively, these outcomes suggest that the PFC has a pivotal role in SFiA, a complex behavior involving the integration of social cues of familiarity with contextual and emotional information to regulate anxiety-like behavior.

Animal models of fear relapse

Whereas fear memories are rapidly acquired and enduring over time, extinction memories are slow to form and are susceptible to disruption. Consequently, behavioral therapies that involve extinction learning (e.g., exposure therapy) often produce only temporary suppression of fear and anxiety. This review focuses on the factors that are known to influence the relapse of extinguished fear. Several phenomena associated with the return of fear after extinction are discussed, including renewal, spontaneous recovery, reacquisition, and reinstatement. Additionally, this review describes recent work, which has focused on the role of psychological stress in the relapse of extinguished fear. Recent developments in behavioral and pharmacological research are examined in light of treatment of pathological fear in humans.

Opposing effects of D-cycloserine on fear despite a common extinction duration: interactions between brain regions and behavior

A number of studies have reported that D-cycloserine (DCS), a partial agonist of the N-methyl-D-aspartate glutamate receptor, can facilitate the loss of conditioned fear if it is administered during an extinction trial. Here we examine the effects of DCS injected into the hippocampus or amygdala on extinction of context-evoked freezing after contextual fear conditioning in C57BL/6 mice. We find that DCS administered prior to an extinction session decreased freezing from the outset of the session regardless of which brain region was targeted. Retention tests revealed opposite effects on fear expression despite identical behavioral treatments: intra-hippocampal DCS inhibited fear expression while intra-amygdala DCS potentiated fear expression. Following post-extinction session injections of DCS, we found a similar though less pronounced effect. Closer inspection of the data revealed that the effects of DCS interacted with the behavior of the subjects during extinction. Intra-hippocampal injections of DCS enhanced extinction in those mice that showed the greatest amount of within-session extinction, but had less pronounced effects on mice that showed the least within-session extinction. Intra-amygdala injections of DCS impaired extinction in those mice that showed the least within-session extinction, but there was some evidence that the effect in the amygdala did not depend on behavior during extinction. These findings demonstrate that even with identical extinction trial durations, the effects of DCS administered into the hippocampus and amygdala can heavily depend on the organism's behavior during the extinction session. The broader implication of these findings is that the effects of pharmacological treatments designed to enhance extinction by targeting hippocampal or amygdalar processes may depend on the responsivity of the subject to the behavioral treatment.

Prefrontal single-unit firing associated with deficient extinction in mice

The neural circuitry mediating fear extinction has been increasingly well studied and delineated. The rodent infralimbic subregion (IL) of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) has been found to promote extinction, whereas the prelimbic cortex (PL) demonstrates an opposing, pro-fear, function. Studies employing in vivo electrophysiological recordings have observed that while increased IL single-unit firing and bursting predicts robust extinction retrieval, increased PL firing can correlate with sustained fear and poor extinction. These relationships between single-unit firing and extinction do not hold under all experimental conditions, however. In the current study, we further investigated the relationship between vmPFC and PL single-unit firing and extinction using inbred mouse models of intact (C57BL/6J, B6) and deficient (129S1/SvImJ, S1) extinction strains. Simultaneous single-unit recordings were made in the PL and vmPFC (encompassing IL) as B6 and S1 mice performed extinction training and retrieval. Impaired extinction retrieval in S1 mice was associated with elevated PL single-unit firing, as compared to firing in extinguishing B6 mice, consistent with the hypothesized pro-fear contribution of PL. Analysis of local field potentials also revealed significantly higher gamma power in the PL of S1 than B6 mice during extinction training and retrieval. In the vmPFC, impaired extinction in S1 mice was also associated with exaggerated single-unit firing, relative to B6 mice. This is in apparent contradiction to evidence that IL activity promotes extinction, but could reflect a (failed) compensatory effort by the vmPFC to mitigate fear-promoting activity in other regions, such as the PL or amygdala. In support of this hypothesis, augmenting IL activity via direct infusion of the GABAA receptor antagonist picrotoxin rescued impaired extinction retrieval in S1 mice. Chronic fluoxetine treatment produced modest reductions in fear during extinction retrieval and increased the number of Zif268-labeled cells in layer II of IL, but failed to increase vmPFC single-unit firing. Collectively, these findings further support the important contribution these cortical regions play in determining the balance between robust extinction on the one hand, and sustained fear on the other. Elucidating the precise nature of these roles could help inform understanding of the pathophysiology of fear-related anxiety disorders.

Nature and causes of the immediate extinction deficit: a brief review

Recent data in both rodents and humans suggests that the timing of extinction trials after conditioning influences the magnitude and duration of extinction. For example, administering extinction trials soon after Pavlovian fear conditioning in rats, mice, and humans results in minimal fear suppression - the so-called immediate extinction deficit. Here I review recent work examining the behavioral and neural substrates of the immediate extinction deficit. I suggest that extinction is most effective at some delay after conditioning, because brain systems involved in encoding and retrieving extinction memories function sub-optimally under stress.

Sex differences and chronic stress effects on the neural circuitry underlying fear conditioning and extinction

There are sex differences in the rates of many stress-sensitive psychological disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala are implicated in many of these disorders, understanding differential stress effects in these regions may shed light on the mechanisms underlying sex-dependent expression of disorders like depression and anxiety. Prefrontal cortex and amygdala are key regions in the neural circuitry underlying fear conditioning and extinction, which thus has emerged as a useful model of stress influences on the neural circuitry underlying regulation of emotional behavior. This review outlines the current literature on sex differences and stress effects on dendritic morphology within medial prefrontal cortex and basolateral amygdala. Such structural differences and/or alterations can have important effects on fear conditioning and extinction, behaviors that are mediated by the basolateral amygdala and prefrontal cortex, respectively. Given the importance of extinction-based exposure therapy as a treatment for anxiety disorders such as PTSD, understanding the neural mechanisms by which stress differentially influences fear learning and extinction in males and females is an important goal for developing sex-appropriate interventions for stress-related disorders.

D-cycloserine in prelimbic cortex reverses scopolamine-induced deficits in olfactory memory in rats

A significant interaction between N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) and muscarinic receptors has been suggested in the modulation of learning and memory processes. The present study further investigates this issue and explores whether d-cycloserine (DCS), a partial agonist at the glycine binding site of the NMDA receptors that has been regarded as a cognitive enhancer, would reverse scopolamine (SCOP)-induced amnesia in two olfactory learning tasks when administered into the prelimbic cortex (PLC). Thus, in experiment 1, DCS (10 µg/site) was infused prior to acquisition of odor discrimination (ODT) and social transmission of food preference (STFP), which have been previously characterized as paradigms sensitive to PLC muscarinic blockade. Immediately after learning such tasks, SCOP was injected (20 µg/site) and the effects of both drugs (alone and combined) were tested in 24-h retention tests. To assess whether DCS effects may depend on the difficulty of the task, in the STFP the rats expressed their food preference either in a standard two-choice test (experiment 1) or a more challenging three-choice test (experiment 2). The results showed that bilateral intra-PLC infusions of SCOP markedly disrupted the ODT and STFP memory tests. Additionally, infusions of DCS alone into the PLC enhanced ODT but not STFP retention. However, the DCS treatment reversed SCOP-induced memory deficits in both tasks, and this effect seemed more apparent in ODT and 3-choice STFP. Such results support the interaction between the glutamatergic and the cholinergic systems in the PLC in such a way that positive modulation of the NMDA receptor/channel, through activation of the glycine binding site, may compensate dysfunction of muscarinic neurotransmission involved in stimulus-reward and relational learning tasks.

Learning to learn - intrinsic plasticity as a metaplasticity mechanism for memory formation

"Use it or lose it" is a popular adage often associated with use-dependent enhancement of cognitive abilities. Much research has focused on understanding exactly how the brain changes as a function of experience. Such experience-dependent plasticity involves both structural and functional alterations that contribute to adaptive behaviors, such as learning and memory, as well as maladaptive behaviors, including anxiety disorders, phobias, and posttraumatic stress disorder. With the advancing age of our population, understanding how use-dependent plasticity changes across the lifespan may also help to promote healthy brain aging. A common misconception is that such experience-dependent plasticity (e.g., associative learning) is synonymous with synaptic plasticity. Other forms of plasticity also play a critical role in shaping adaptive changes within the nervous system, including intrinsic plasticity - a change in the intrinsic excitability of a neuron. Intrinsic plasticity can result from a change in the number, distribution or activity of various ion channels located throughout the neuron. Here, we review evidence that intrinsic plasticity is an important and evolutionarily conserved neural correlate of learning. Intrinsic plasticity acts as a metaplasticity mechanism by lowering the threshold for synaptic changes. Thus, learning-related intrinsic changes can facilitate future synaptic plasticity and learning. Such intrinsic changes can impact the allocation of a memory trace within a brain structure, and when compromised, can contribute to cognitive decline during the aging process. This unique role of intrinsic excitability can provide insight into how memories are formed and, more interestingly, how neurons that participate in a memory trace are selected. Most importantly, modulation of intrinsic excitability can allow for regulation of learning ability - this can prevent or provide treatment for cognitive decline not only in patients with clinical disorders but also in the aging population.

Effect of D-cycloserine in conjunction with fear extinction training on extracellular signal-regulated kinase activation in the medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala in rat

D-cycloserine (DCS) is currently under clinical trials for a number of neuropsychiatric conditions and has been found to augment fear extinction in rodents and exposure therapy in humans. However, the molecular mechanism of DCS action in these multiple modalities remains unclear. Here, we describe the effect of DCS administration, alone or in conjunction with extinction training, on neuronal activity (c-fos) and neuronal plasticity [phospho-extracellular signal-regulated kinase (pERK)] markers using immunohistochemistry. We found that intraperitoneal administration of DCS in untrained young rats (24-28 days old) increased c-fos- and pERK-stained neurons in both the prelimbic and infralimbic division of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and reduced pERK levels in the lateral nucleus of the central amygdala. Moreover, DCS administration significantly increased GluA1, GluN1, GluN2A, and GluN2B expression in the mPFC. In a separate set of animals, we found that DCS facilitated fear extinction and increased pERK levels in the infralimbic prefrontal cortex, prelimbic prefrontal cortex intercalated cells and lateral nucleus of the central amygdala, compared with saline control. In the synaptoneurosomal preparation, we found that extinction training increased iGluR protein expression in the mPFC, compared with context animals. No significant difference in protein expression was observed between extinction-saline and extinction-DCS groups in the mPFC. In contrast, in the amygdala DCS, the conjunction with extinction training led to an increase in iGluR subunit expression, compared with the extinction-saline group. Our data suggest that the efficacy of DCS in neuropsychiatric disorders may be partly due to its ability to affect neuronal activity and signaling in the mPFC and amygdala subnuclei.

Stress-enhanced fear learning in rats is resistant to the effects of immediate massed extinction

Enhanced fear learning occurs subsequent to traumatic or stressful events and is a persistent challenge to the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Facilitation of learning produced by prior stress can elicit an exaggerated fear response to a minimally aversive event or stimulus. Stress-enhanced fear learning (SEFL) is a rat model of PTSD; rats previously exposed to the SEFL 15 electrical shocks procedure exhibit several behavioral responses similar to those seen in patients with PTSD. However, past reports found that SEFL is not mitigated by extinction (a model of exposure therapy) when the spaced extinction began 24 h after stress. Recent studies found that extinction from 10 min to 1 h subsequent to fear conditioning "erased" learning, whereas later extinction, occurring from 24 to 72 h after conditioning did not. Other studies indicate that massed extinction is more effective than spaced procedures. Therefore, we examined the time-dependent nature of extinction on the stress-induced enhancement of fear learning using a massed trial's procedure. Experimental rats received 15 foot shocks and were given either no extinction or massed extinction 10 min or 72 h later. Our present data indicate that SEFL, following traumatic stress, is resistant to immediate massed extinction. Experimental rats showed exaggerated new fear learning regardless of when extinction training occurred. Thus, post-traumatic reactivity such as SEFL does not seem responsive to extinction treatments.

D-cycloserine does not facilitate fear extinction by reducing conditioned stimulus processing or promoting conditioned inhibition to contextual cues

The NMDA receptor partial agonist d-cycloserine (DCS) enhances the extinction of learned fear in rats and exposure therapy in humans with anxiety disorders. Despite these benefits, little is known about the mechanisms by which DCS promotes the loss of fear. The present study examined whether DCS augments extinction retention (1) through reductions in conditioned stimulus (CS) processing or (2) by promoting the development of conditioned inhibition to contextual cues. Rats administered DCS prior to extinction showed enhanced long-term extinction retention (Experiments 3 and 4). The same nonreinforced CS procedure used in extinction also reduced freezing at test when presented as pre-exposure before conditioning, demonstrating latent inhibition (Experiment 1). DCS administered shortly prior to pre-exposure had no effect on latent inhibition using parameters which produced weak (Experiment 2) or strong (Experiment 3) expression of latent inhibition. Therefore, DCS facilitated learning involving CS-alone exposures, but only when these exposures occurred after (extinction) and not before (latent inhibition) conditioning. We also used a retardation test procedure to examine whether the extinction context gained inhibitory properties for rats given DCS prior to extinction. With three different footshock intensities, there was no evidence that DCS promoted accrual of associative inhibition to the extinction context (Experiment 4). The present findings demonstrate that DCS does not facilitate extinction by reducing CS processing or causing the extinction context to become a conditioned inhibitor. Investigations into the mechanisms underlying the augmentation of extinction by DCS are valuable for understanding how fear can be inhibited.

Neural and cellular mechanisms of fear and extinction memory formation

Over the course of natural history, countless animal species have evolved adaptive behavioral systems to cope with dangerous situations and promote survival. Emotional memories are central to these defense systems because they are rapidly acquired and prepare organisms for future threat. Unfortunately, the persistence and intrusion of memories of fearful experiences are quite common and can lead to pathogenic conditions, such as anxiety and phobias. Over the course of the last 30 years, neuroscientists and psychologists alike have attempted to understand the mechanisms by which the brain encodes and maintains these aversive memories. Of equal interest, though, is the neurobiology of extinction memory formation as this may shape current therapeutic techniques. Here we review the extant literature on the neurobiology of fear and extinction memory formation, with a strong focus on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying these processes.

Fear extinction as a model for translational neuroscience: ten years of progress

The psychology of extinction has been studied for decades. Approximately 10 years ago, however, there began a concerted effort to understand the neural circuits of extinction of fear conditioning, in both animals and humans. Progress during this period has been facilitated by a high degree of coordination between rodent and human researchers examining fear extinction. Here we review the major advances and highlight new approaches to understanding and exploiting fear extinction. Research in fear extinction could serve as a model for translational research in other areas of behavioral neuroscience.

NMDA receptors and fear extinction: implications for cognitive behavioral therapy

Based primarily on studies that employ Pavlovian fear conditioning, extinction of conditioned fear has been found to be mediated by N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex. This led to the discovery that an NMDA partial agonist, D-cycloserine, could facilitate fear extinction when given systemically or locally into the amygdala. Because many forms of cognitive behavioral therapy depend on fear extinction, this led to the successful use of D-cycloserine as an adjunct to psychotherapy in patients with so-called simple phobias (fear of heights), social phobia, obsessive-compulsive behavior, and panic disorder. Data in support of these conclusions are reviewed, along with some of the possible limitations of D-cycloserine as an adjunct to psychotherapy.

Seeking a spotless mind: extinction, deconsolidation, and erasure of fear memory

Learning to contend with threats in the environment is essential to survival, but dysregulation of memories for traumatic events can lead to disabling psychopathology. Recent years have witnessed an impressive growth in our understanding of the neural systems and synaptic mechanisms underlying emotional memory formation. As a consequence, interest has emerged in developing strategies for suppressing, if not eliminating, fear memories. Here, I review recent work employing sophisticated behavioral, pharmacological, and molecular tools to target fear memories, placing these memories firmly behind the crosshairs of neurobiologically informed interventions.