Dopamine induces fear extinction by activating the reward-responding amygdala neurons.

ABSTRACT: The extinction of conditioned fear responses is crucial for adaptive behavior, and its impairment is a hallmark of anxiety disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder. Fear extinction takes place when animals form a new memory that suppresses the original fear memory. In the case of context-dependent fear memory, the new memory is formed within the reward-responding posterior subset of basolateral amygdala (BLA) that is genetically marked by Ppp1r1b⁺ neurons. These memory engram cells suppress the activity of the original fear-responding Rspo2⁺ engram cells present in the anterior BLA, hence fear extinction. However, the neurological nature of the teaching signal that instructs the formation of fear extinction memory in the Ppp1r1b⁺

SUBMITTER: Zhang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12067255 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature