Prevention of stress-impaired fear extinction through neuropeptide s action in the lateral amygdala.

ABSTRACT: Stressful and traumatic events can create aversive memories, which are a predisposing factor for anxiety disorders. The amygdala is critical for transforming such stressful events into anxiety, and the recently discovered neuropeptide S transmitter system represents a promising candidate apt to control these interactions. Here we test the hypothesis that neuropeptide S can regulate stress-induced hyperexcitability in the amygdala, and thereby can interact with stress-induced alterations of fear memory. Mice underwent acute immobilization stress (IS), and neuropeptide S and a receptor antagonist were locally injected into the lateral amygdala (LA) during stress exposure. Ten days later, anxiety-like behavior, fear acquisition, fear memory retrieval, and extinction were tested. Furthermore,

SUBMITTER: Chauveau F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3358750 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature