Amygdala Regulation of Immediate-Early Gene Expression in the Hippocampus Induced by Contextual Fear Conditioning

The basolateral nuclei of the amygdala (BLA) are thought to modulate memory storage in other brain regions (McGaugh, 2004). We reported that BLA modulates the memory for both an explored context and for contextual fear conditioning. Both of these memories depend on the hippocampus. Here, we examined...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of neuroscience 2006-02, Vol.26 (5), p.1616-1623
Main Authors: Huff, Nicole C, Frank, Matthew, Wright-Hardesty, Karli, Sprunger, David, Matus-Amat, Patricia, Higgins, Emily, Rudy, Jerry W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amygdala - physiology
Animals
Conditioning, Psychological
Cytoskeletal Proteins - biosynthesis
Cytoskeletal Proteins - genetics
Fear - physiology
Gene Expression Regulation
Genes, Immediate-Early
Hippocampus - metabolism
Male
Nerve Tissue Proteins - biosynthesis
Nerve Tissue Proteins - genetics
Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos - biosynthesis
Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos - genetics
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
RNA, Messenger - biosynthesis
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Summary:The basolateral nuclei of the amygdala (BLA) are thought to modulate memory storage in other brain regions (McGaugh, 2004). We reported that BLA modulates the memory for both an explored context and for contextual fear conditioning. Both of these memories depend on the hippocampus. Here, we examined the hypothesis that the BLA exerts its modulatory effect by regulating the expression of immediate-early genes (IEGs) in the hippocampus. The main findings of these experiments were: (1) Arc activity-regulated cytoskeletal protein (Arc), an immediate-early gene (also termed Arg 3.1) and c-fos mRNA are induced in the hippocampus after a context exposure, or context plus shock experience, but not after an immediate shock; and (2) BLA inactivation with muscimol attenuated the increase in Arc and c-fos mRNA in the hippocampus associated with contextual fear conditioning but did not influence Arc mRNA associated with context exploration. These results support the hypothesis that the amygdala modulates contextual fear memory by regulating expression of IEGs in the hippocampus.
ISSN:0270-6474
1529-2401
1529-2401
DOI:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4964-05.2006