Amygdala Reward Neurons Form and Store Fear Extinction Memory
Author(s)
Kim, Joshua; Tonegawa, Susumu; Zhang, Xiangyu,Ph.D.Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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The ability to extinguish conditioned fear memory is critical for adaptive control of fear response, and its impairment is a hallmark of emotional disorders like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Fear extinction is thought to take place when animals form a new memory that suppresses the original fear memory. However, little is known about the nature and the site of formation and storage of this new extinction memory. Here we demonstrate that a fear extinction memory engram is formed and stored in a genetically distinct basolateral amygdala (BLA) neuronal population that drives reward behaviors and antagonizes the BLA's original fear neurons. Activation of fear extinction engram neurons and natural reward-responsive neurons overlap significantly in the BLA. Furthermore, these two neuronal subsets are mutually interchangeable in driving reward behaviors and fear extinction behaviors. Thus, fear extinction memory is a newly formed reward memory.
Date issued
2020-03Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive SciencesJournal
Neuron
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Citation
Zhang, Xiangyu, Joshua Kim & Susumu Tonegawa. “Amygdala Reward Neurons Form and Store Fear Extinction Memory.” Neuron 105 (2020): 1077-1093.e7
Version: Original manuscript
ISSN
0896-6273
Keywords
General Neuroscience