Dynamic amino acid increases in the basolateral amygdala during acquisition and expression of conditioned fear.

Full Abstract

Glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) release in the amygdala are thought to be crucial for the acquisition and expression of fear memories, but the time course of amino acid changes during conditioning is unknown. We used rapid-sampling microdialysis with 14 s temporal resolution to address this issue. During auditory fear conditioning, large, rapid and transient increases in glutamate and GABA were detected, but only during the first noise-shock pairing. In contrast, rats receiving unsignaled shocks during contextual fear conditioning showed no changes in GABA and less glutamate release for the initial shock, but increased glutamate release during later shocks. Expression of conditioned fear to either a white noise or the context previously paired with shock produced similar rapid and transient increases in many amino acids in the amygdala. These experiments demonstrate glutamate and GABA levels in the amygdala are differentially modulated during auditory and contextual fear learning, and are transiently increased during the expression of fear memories.

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Author information

Author/s: Venton, B Jill (BJ); Robinson, Terry E (TE); Kennedy, Robert T (RT); Maren, Stephen (S);

Affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, 930 N. University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1055, USA. bjv2n(-atsign-)virginia.edu

Grants: R01 MH073655 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; R01 NS38476 (Agency:NINDS NIH HHS) ; R37 DA004294 (Agency:NIDA NIH HHS) ; T32 DA007268 (Agency:NIDA NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: The European journal of neuroscience (Eur J Neurosci), published in France. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Jun; vol 23 (issue 12) : pp 3391-8

Dates: Created 2006/07/05; Completed 2007/04/03; Revised 2007/12/03;

PMID: 16820029, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Amino Acids - metabolism
Amygdala - anatomy & histology; metabolism
Animals
Conditioning (Psychology)
Electric Stimulation
Fear - physiology
Glutamic Acid - metabolism

Learning - physiology
Male
Memory - physiology
Microdialysis
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
gamma-Aminobutyric Acid - metabolism

Associated Chemicals: Amino Acids (0) ; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (56-12-2) ; Glutamic Acid (56-86-0)

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