Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) is implicated in stress regulation and learning and memory. PACAP has neuromodulatory actions on brain structures within the limbic system that could contribute to its acute and persistent effects in animal models of stress and anxiety-like behavior. Here, male Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted with intracerebroventricular (ICV) cannula for infusion of PACAP-38 (0.5, 1, or 1.5 ug) or vehicle followed 30 min later by fear conditioning. Freezing was measured early (1, 4, and 7days) or following a delay (7, 10, and 13 days)after conditioning. PACAP (1.5 μg) produced a bi-phasic response in freezing behavior across test days: relative to controls, PACAP-treated rats showed a reduction in freezing when tested 1 or 7 Days after fear conditioning that evolved into a significant elevation in freezing by the third test session in the early, but not delayed, group. Corticosterone (CORT) levels were significantly elevated in PACAP-treated rats following fear conditioning, but not at the time of testing (Day 1). Brain c-Fos expression revealed PACAP-dependent alterations within, as well as outside of, areas typically implicated in fear conditioning. Our findings raise the possibility that PACAP disrupts fear memory consolidation by altering synaptic plasticity within neurocircuits normally responsible for encoding fear-related cues, producing a type of dissociation or peritraumatic amnesia often seen in people early after exposure to a traumatic event. However, fear memories are retained such that repeated testing and memory reactivation (e.g. re-experiencing) causes the freezing response to emerge and persist at elevated levels. PACAP systems may represent an axis on which stress and exposure to trauma converge to promote maladaptive behavioral responses characteristic of psychiatric illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Fear expressed towards threat-associated stimuli is an adaptive behavioral response. In contrast, the generalization of fear responses toward non-threatening cues is maladaptive and a debilitating dimension of trauma-and anxiety-related disorders. Expressing fear to appropriate stimuli and suppressing fear generalization requires integration of relevant sensory information and motor output. While thalamic and sub-thalamic brain regions play important roles in sensorimotor integration, very little is known about the contribution of these regions to the phenomenon of fear generalization. In this study, we sought to determine whether fear generalization could be modulated by the zona incerta (ZI), a sub-thalamic brain region that influences sensory discrimination, defensive responses, and retrieval of fear memories. To do so, we combined differential intensity-based auditory fear conditioning protocols in mice with C-FOS immunohistochemistry and DREADD-based manipulation of neuronal activity in the ZI. C-FOS immunohistochemistry revealed an inverse relationship between ZI activation and fear generalization -the ZI was less active in animals that generalized fear. In agreement with this relationship, chemogenetic inhibition of the ZI resulted in fear generalization, while chemogenetic activation of the ZI suppressed fear generalization. Furthermore, targeted stimulation of GABAergic cells in the ZI reduced fear generalization. To conclude, our data suggest that stimulation of the ZI could be used to treat fear generalization in the context of trauma-and anxiety-related disorders.
Fear generalization and deficits in extinction learning are debilitating dimensions of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Most understanding of the neurobiology underlying these dimensions comes from studies of cortical and limbic brain regions. While thalamic and subthalamic regions have been implicated in modulating fear, the potential for incerto-thalamic pathways to suppress fear generalization and rescue deficits in extinction recall remains unexplored. We first used patch-clamp electrophysiology to examine functional connections between the subthalamic zona incerta and thalamic reuniens (RE). Optogenetic stimulation of GABAergic ZI → RE cell terminals in vitro induced inhibitory post-synaptic currents (IPSCs) in the RE. We then combined high-intensity discriminative auditory fear conditioning with cell-type-specific and projection-specific optogenetics in mice to assess functional roles of GABAergic ZI → RE cell projections in modulating fear generalization and extinction recall. In addition, we used a similar approach to test the possibility of fear generalization and extinction recall being modulated by a smaller subset of GABAergic ZI → RE cells, the A13 dopaminergic cell population. Optogenetic stimulation of GABAergic ZI → RE cell terminals attenuated fear generalization and enhanced extinction recall. In contrast, optogenetic stimulation of dopaminergic ZI → RE cell terminals had no effect on fear generalization but enhanced extinction recall in a dopamine receptor D1-dependent manner. Our findings shed new light on the neuroanatomy and neurochemistry of ZI-located cells that contribute to adaptive fear by increasing the precision and extinction of learned associations. In so doing, these data reveal novel neuroanatomical substrates that could be therapeutically targeted for treatment of PTSD.
Fear expressed toward threat-associated stimuli is an adaptive behavioral response. In contrast, the generalization of fear responses toward nonthreatening cues is a maladaptive and debilitating dimension of trauma-and anxiety-related disorders. Expressing fear to appropriate stimuli and suppressing fear generalization require integration of relevant sensory information and motor output. While thalamic and subthalamic brain regions play important roles in sensorimotor integration, very little is known about the contribution of these regions to the phenomenon of fear generalization. In this study, we sought to determine whether fear generalization could be modulated by the zona incerta (ZI), a subthalamic brain region that influences sensory discrimination, defensive responses, and retrieval of fear memories. To do so, we combined differential intensity-based auditory fear conditioning protocols in mice with C-FOS immunohistochemistry and designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs)-based manipulation of neuronal activity in the ZI. C-FOS immunohistochemistry revealed an inverse relationship between ZI activation and fear generalization: The ZI was less active in animals that generalized fear. In agreement with this relationship, chemogenetic inhibition of the ZI resulted in fear generalization, while chemogenetic activation of the ZI suppressed fear generalization. Furthermore, targeted stimulation of GABAergic cells in the ZI reduced fear generalization. To conclude, our data suggest that stimulation of the ZI could be used to treat fear generalization in the context of trauma-and anxiety-related disorders. trauma | posttraumatic stress disorder | subthalamic | fear inhibition | anxiety E xpressing fear toward cues that have previously been associated with trauma is adaptive (conditioned fear). Equally adaptive is the expression of fear toward stimuli that closely resemble traumatic cues (fear generalization). Such generalization of fear allows the organism to be "better safe than sorry." However, fear generalization can diminish quality of life and is a highly debilitating dimension of trauma-and anxiety-related disorders like posttraumatic stress disorder and generalized anxiety disorder (1-4). Reducing fear generalization, while maintaining adaptive fear responses, will reduce the daily burden experienced by individuals living with these disorders and requires identifying neural circuitry that could modulate fear generalization.Brain regions such as the lateral amygdala (5-7), central amygdala (8,9), prefrontal cortex (10, 11), hippocampus (3, 12), and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (13, 14) have been implicated in fear generalization. More importantly, these regions play crucial roles in detecting threats and assigning valence to environmental stimuli (15-18). Therefore, while manipulating these regions could potentially reduce fear generalization, doing so might compromise threat detection, conditioned fear, and survival. In this study, we set out to ask whether targeting brain ...
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