Dopamine D2 receptors gate generalization of conditioned threat responses through mTORC1 signaling in the extended amygdala.

ABSTRACT: Overgeneralization of conditioned threat responses is a robust clinical marker of anxiety disorders. In overgeneralization, responses that are appropriate to threat-predicting cues are evoked by perceptually similar safety-predicting cues. Inappropriate learning of conditioned threat responses may thus form an etiological basis for anxiety disorders. The role of dopamine (DA) in memory encoding is well established. Indeed by signaling salience and valence, DA is thought to facilitate discriminative learning between stimuli representing safety or threat. However, the neuroanatomical and biochemical substrates through which DA modulates overgeneralization of threat responses remain poorly understood. Here we report that the modulation of DA D2 receptor (D2R) signaling bidirectionally regulat

SUBMITTER: De Bundel D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5101541 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature