scholarly journals The anterior cingulate cortex and its role in controlling contextual fear memory to predatory threats

eLife ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Antonio Xavier de Lima ◽  
Marcus Vinicius C Baldo ◽  
Fernando A Oliveira ◽  
Newton Sabino Canteras
Keyword(s):  
Basolateral Amygdala ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Fear Memory ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Contextual Fear ◽  
Contextual Fear Memory ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Learned Fear ◽  
Predator Threat ◽  
Made In

Predator exposure is a life-threatening experience and elicits learned fear responses to the context in which the predator was encountered. The anterior cingulate area (ACA) occupies a pivotal position in a cortical network responsive to predatory threats, and it exerts a critical role in processing fear memory. The experiments were made in mice and revealed that the ACA is involved in both the acquisition and expression of contextual fear to predatory threat. Overall, the ACA can provide predictive relationships between the context and the predator threat and influences fear memory acquisition through projections to the basolateral amygdala and perirhinal region and the expression of contextual fear through projections to the dorsolateral periaqueductal gray. Our results expand previous studies based on classical fear conditioning and open interesting perspectives for understanding how the ACA is involved in processing contextual fear memory to ethologic threatening conditions that entrain specific medial hypothalamic fear circuits.

scholarly journals The anterior cingulate cortex and its role in controlling contextual fear memory to predatory threats

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Antonio Xavier de Lima ◽  
Marcus Vinicius C. Baldo ◽  
Fernando A. Oliveira ◽  
Newton Sabino Canteras
Keyword(s):  
Basolateral Amygdala ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Fear Memory ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Contextual Fear ◽  
Contextual Fear Memory ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Memory Acquisition ◽  
Learned Fear ◽  
Predator Threat

ABSTRACTPredator exposure is a life-threatening experience and elicits learned fear responses to the context in which the predator was encountered. The anterior cingulate area (ACA) occupies a pivotal position in a cortical network responsive to predatory threats, and it exerts a critical role in processing fear memory. Ours results revealed that the ACA is involved in both the acquisition and expression of contextual fear to predatory threat. Overall, the ACA can provide predictive relationships between the context and the predator threat and influences fear memory acquisition through projections to the basolateral amygdala and perirhinal region and the expression of contextual fear through projections to the dorsolateral periaqueductal gray. Our results expand previous studies based on classical fear conditioning and open interesting perspectives for understanding how the ACA is involved in processing contextual fear memory to ethologic threatening conditions that entrain specific medial hypothalamic fear circuits (i.e., predator- and conspecific-responsive circuits).

Revealing a Cortical Circuit Responsive to Predatory Threats and Mediating Contextual Fear Memory

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 3074-3090 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Antonio Xavier de Lima ◽  
Marcus Vinicius C Baldo ◽  
Newton Sabino Canteras
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Fear Memory ◽  
Cortical Network ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Contextual Fear ◽  
Differential Increase ◽  
Rostral Part ◽  
Innate Fear ◽  
Predator Threat

Abstract The ventral part of the anteromedial thalamic nucleus (AMv) receives substantial inputs from hypothalamic sites that are highly responsive to a live predator or its odor trace and represents an important thalamic hub for conveying predatory threat information to the cerebral cortex. In the present study, we begin by examining the cortico-amygdalar-hippocampal projections of the main AMv cortical targets, namely, the caudal prelimbic, rostral anterior cingulate, and medial visual areas, as well as the rostral part of the ventral retrosplenial area, one of the main targets of the anterior cingulate area. We observed that these areas form a clear cortical network. Next, we revealed that in animals exposed to a live cat, all of the elements of this circuit presented a differential increase in Fos, supporting the idea of a predator threat-responsive cortical network. Finally, we showed that bilateral cytotoxic lesions in each element of this cortical network did not change innate fear responses but drastically reduced contextual conditioning to the predator-associated environment. Overall, the present findings suggest that predator threat has an extensive representation in the cerebral cortex and revealed a cortical network that is responsive to predatory threats and exerts a critical role in processing fear memory.

scholarly journals Spine growth in the anterior cingulate cortex is necessary for the consolidation of contextual fear memory

2011 ◽  
Vol 108 (20) ◽  
pp. 8456-8460 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Vetere ◽  
L. Restivo ◽  
C. J. Cole ◽  
P. J. Ross ◽  
M. Ammassari-Teule ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Fear Memory ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Contextual Fear ◽  
Contextual Fear Memory

scholarly journals Early Contextual Fear Memory Deficits in a Double-Transgenic Amyloid-βPrecursor Protein/Presenilin 2 Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Yasushi Kishimoto ◽  
Kai Fukumoto ◽  
Mika Nagai ◽  
Ayaka Mizuguchi ◽  
Yuiko Kobashi
Keyword(s):  
Mouse Model ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Memory Deficits ◽  
Fear Memory ◽  
Contextual Fear ◽  
Contextual Fear Memory ◽  
Model Of Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Swedish Mutation ◽  
Presenilin 2 ◽  
Tg2576 Mice

Presenilin 1 and presenilin 2 (PS1 and PS2) play a critical role inγ-secretase-mediated cleavage of amyloid-βprecursor protein (APP) and the subsequent generation ofβ-amyloid peptides. The purpose of the present study was to test whether PS2 mutation accelerates the onset of contextual fear memory deficits in a mouse model of AD that expresses a mutation (K670N/M671L) of the human APP with the Swedish mutation (Tg2576 mice). In the present study, an APP/PS2 double-transgenic mouse model (PS2Tg2576) was generated by crossbreeding transgenic mice carrying the human mutant PS2 (N141I) with Tg2576 mice. Contextual fear conditioning was tested in PS2Tg2576 mice aged 3, 4, 6, and 10–12 months. PS2Tg2576 mice showed a tendency of lower freezing behavior as early as 3 months of age, but significant memory impairment was observed from the age of 4 months. The cognitive impairment was more prominent at ages of 6 and 10–12 months. In contrast, Tg2576 mice aged 3 and 4 months exhibited successful acquisition of contextual fear learning, but Tg2576 mice aged 6 months or older showed significantly impaired fear memory. These results show that PS2 mutation significantly accelerates the onset of fear memory deficits in the APP AD model mice.

Contextual Fear Memory Retrieval Is Vulnerable to Hippocampal Noise

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satoshi Iwasaki ◽  
Yuji Ikegaya
Keyword(s):  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Basolateral Amygdala ◽  
Fear Memory ◽  
Memory Recall ◽  
Contextual Fear ◽  
Contextual Fear Memory ◽  
Hippocampal Ca1 ◽  
Recall Memory ◽  
Neuron Ensemble ◽  
Memory Engram

Abstract Memory retrieval depends on reactivation of memory engram cells. Inadvertent activation of these cells is expected to cause memory-retrieval failure, but little is known about how noisy activity of memory-irrelevant neurons impacts mnemonic processes. Here, we report that optogenetic nonselective activation of only tens of hippocampal CA1 cells (∼0.01% of the total cells in the CA1 pyramidal cell layer) impairs contextual fear memory recall. Memory recall failure was associated with altered neuronal reactivation in the basolateral amygdala. These results indicate that hippocampal memory retrieval requires strictly regulated activation of a specific neuron ensemble and is easily disrupted by the introduction of noisy CA1 activity, suggesting that reactivating memory engram cells as well as silencing memory-irrelevant neurons are both crucial for memory retrieval.

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