Prefrontal cortex neuronal ensembles encoding fear drive fear expression during long-term memory retrieval.

ABSTRACT: The prefrontal cortex is an important regulator of fear expression in humans and rodents. Specifically, the rodent prelimbic (PL) prefrontal cortex drives fear expression during both encoding and retrieval of fear memory. Neuronal ensembles have been proposed to function as memory encoding units, and their re-activation is thought to be necessary for memory retrieval and expression of conditioned behavior. However, it remains unclear whether PL cortex neuronal ensembles that encode fear memory contribute to long-term fear expression during memory retrieval. To address this, we employed a viral-mediated TRAP (Targeted Recombination in Active Population) technology to target PL cortex ensembles active during fear conditioning and expressed the inhibitory Gi-DREADD in fear-encoding ensembles.

SUBMITTER: Giannotti G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6656710 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature