Activation of Nigrostriatal Dopamine Neurons during Fear Extinction Prevents the Renewal of Fear.

ABSTRACT: Manipulations that increase dopamine (DA) signaling can enhance fear extinction, but the circuits involved remain unknown. DA neurons originating in the substantia nigra (SN) projecting to the dorsal striatum (DS) are traditionally viewed in the context of motor behavior, but growing data implicate this nigrostriatal circuit in emotion. Here we investigated the role of nigrostriatal DA in fear extinction. Activation of SN DA neurons with designer G_q-coupled receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (G_q-DREADD) during fear extinction had no effect on fear extinction acquisition, but enhanced fear extinction memory and blocked the renewal of fear in a novel context; a pattern of data paralleled by cFos expression in the central amygdala. D1 receptors in the DS a

SUBMITTER: Bouchet CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5770770 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature