Auditory fear memory is thought to be maintained by fear conditioning-induced potentiation of synaptic efficacy, which involves enhanced expression of surface AMPA receptor (AMPAR) at excitatory synapses in the lateral amygdala (LA). Depotentiation, reversal of conditioning-induced potentiation, has been proposed as a cellular mechanism for fear extinction; however, a direct link between depotentiation and extinction has not yet been tested. To address this issue, we applied both ex vivo and in vivo approaches to rats in which fear memory had been consolidated. A unique form of depotentiation reversed conditioning-induced potentiation at thalamic input synapses onto the LA (T-LA synapses) ex vivo. Extinction returned the enhanced T-LA synaptic efficacy observed in conditioned rats to baseline and occluded the depotentiation. Consistently, extinction reversed conditioning-induced enhancement of surface expression of AMPAR subunits in LA synaptosomal preparations. A GluR2-derived peptide that blocks regulated AMPAR endocytosis inhibited depotentiation, and microinjection of a cell-permeable form of the peptide into the LA attenuated extinction. Our results are consistent with the use of depotentiation to weaken potentiated synaptic inputs onto the LA during extinction and provide strong evidence that AMPAR removal at excitatory synapses in the LA underlies extinction.lateral amygdala ͉ fear conditioning ͉ AMPA receptor ͉ endocytosis T he cortical and thalamic input synapses onto the lateral amygdala (LA) (C-LA and T-LA synapses, respectively) carry auditory information from the auditory cortex and auditory thalamus onto the LA, respectively (1). Long-term potentiation (LTP; an in vitro model of memory) (2)-like changes in these pathways are thought to underlie both the encoding and consolidation of auditory fear memory (3-8). The results of a recent study suggest that long-term retention of conditioning-induced potentiation at excitatory synapses in the LA is a critical requirement for consolidated fear memory within the LA (7, 9). Also, LTP requiring the synaptic delivery of AMPA receptors (AMPARs) at excitatory synapses in the LA appears to be necessary for establishing consolidated fear memory (6,8,10). Conditioning-induced potentiation and auditory fear memory encoded in the LA have been shown to be consolidated within 24 h after fear conditioning (5, 7, 11). Moreover, auditory fear memory appears to be maintained in the LA across the adult lifetime of rats (12). Thus, consolidation of auditory fear memory encoded in the LA is rapid and localized, unlike hippocampus-dependent memory, which involves slow and distributed consolidation processes (13).In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that depotentiation of conditioning-induced potentiation at excitatory synapses in the LA underlies extinction of consolidated fear memory. Synaptic weights were monitored ex vivo by using whole-cell (or field potential) recordings in amygdala slices prepared from behaviortrained rats. Results Extinction of Consolidated ...

The authors note, "For the 'hybrid' location discrimination task, we report data obtained from 27 electrodes, 16 of which were in area 1; the 11 electrodes in area 3b were divided evenly across the two animals (6 and 5). We had previously tested all of the electrodes, including those in area 3b, in the detection and discrimination tasks (as shown in Fig. 3) and found them all to yield approximately equivalent performance (see Fig 3A). We noticed in the hybrid location discrimination task, however, that one of the animals performed much more poorly based on stimulation of area 3b than it did based on stimulation of area 1 (while the other animal performed better based on stimulation of area 1). Having no reason to question any of the arrays, we attributed this discrepancy to differences across animals and arrived at the conclusion, based on pooled data from both animals, that stimulation of the two areas yields equivalent performance in the 'hybrid location discrimination' task. The overall conclusion, then, was that stimulation of neurons in area 3b and 1 evokes percepts that are equally localized on the skin."Shortly after publication of the paper, we repeated detection experiments across the arrays and found that the animal could no longer detect stimulation through the array in area 3b that had yielded poor performance in the hybrid location discrimination task. It is therefore likely that this array had failed between the time we conducted the initial detection and discrimination experiments and the time we conducted the hybrid location discrimination task (which required 2-3 months of retraining). If this is the case, and we eliminate data from that bad array, then the median performance on hybrid trials is 83% (up from the 80% that was originally reported), which is still statistically poorer than that on the location-matched mechanical trials [median difference between performance on mechanical and hybrid trials was 3.3% rather than 5.6%, t (119) = 6.1, P < 0.001] (see the corrected Fig. 2). Thus, we probably underestimated overall performance on hybrid trials, and thus the degree to which artificial percepts are localized, in the original publication. Importantly, however, performance on hybrid trials based on stimulation of area 3b was significantly better than performance based on stimulation of area 1 [median Δp = 0.028 and 0.054 for areas 3b and 1, respectively; t test: t (76) = 2.8, P < 0.01]. Thus, based on the data obtained from only one animal, it seems as though stimulation of area 3b elicits more localized percepts than does stimulation of area 1, as might be expected given that neurons in area 3b tend to have smaller receptive fields than their counterparts in area 1 (1, 2)."As a result of this error, Fig. 2 and its legend appeared incorrectly. The corrected figure and its corresponding legend appear below. On both mechanical and hybrid trials, the relative locations of stimuli applied to widely spaced digits were more accurately discriminated than were the relative locations of stimuli applie...

Monoamine oxidase–B (MAO-B) has recently emerged as a potential therapeutic target for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) because of its association with aberrant γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) production in reactive astrocytes. Although short-term treatment with irreversible MAO-B inhibitors, such as selegiline, improves cognitive deficits in AD patients, long-term treatments have shown disappointing results. We show that prolonged treatment with selegiline fails to reduce aberrant astrocytic GABA levels and rescue memory impairment in APP/PS1 mice, an animal model of AD, because of increased activity in compensatory genes for a GABA-synthesizing enzyme, diamine oxidase (DAO). We have developed a potent, highly selective, and reversible MAO-B inhibitor, KDS2010 (IC50 = 7.6 nM; 12,500-fold selectivity over MAO-A), which overcomes the disadvantages of the irreversible MAO-B inhibitor. Long-term treatment with KDS2010 does not induce compensatory mechanisms, thereby significantly attenuating increased astrocytic GABA levels and astrogliosis, enhancing synaptic transmission, and rescuing learning and memory impairments in APP/PS1 mice.

BackgroundThe FDA-approved small-molecule drug ibrutinib is an effective targeted therapy for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Ibrutinib inhibits Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK), a kinase involved in B cell receptor signaling. However, the potential regulation of neuroinflammatory responses in the brain by ibrutinib has not been comprehensively examined.MethodsBV2 microglial cells were treated with ibrutinib (1 μM) or vehicle (1% DMSO), followed by lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 1 μg/ml) or PBS. RT-PCR, immunocytochemistry, and subcellular fractionation were performed to examine the effects of ibrutinib on neuroinflammatory responses. In addition, wild-type mice were sequentially injected with ibrutinib (10 mg/kg, i.p.) or vehicle (10% DMSO, i.p.), followed by LPS (10 mg/kg, i.p.) or PBS, and microglial and astrocyte activations were assessed using immunohistochemistry.ResultsIbrutinib significantly reduced LPS-induced increases in proinflammatory cytokine levels in BV2 microglial and primary microglial cells but not in primary astrocytes. Ibrutinib regulated TLR4 signaling to alter LPS-induced proinflammatory cytokine levels. In addition, ibrutinib significantly decreased LPS-induced increases in p-AKT and p-STAT3 levels, suggesting that ibrutinib attenuates LPS-induced neuroinflammatory responses by inhibiting AKT/STAT3 signaling pathways. Interestingly, ibrutinib also reduced LPS-induced BV2 microglial cell migration by inhibiting AKT signaling. Moreover, ibrutinib-injected wild-type mice exhibited significantly reduced microglial/astrocyte activation and COX-2 and IL-1β proinflammatory cytokine levels.ConclusionsOur data provide insights on the mechanisms of a potential therapeutic strategy for neuroinflammation-related diseases.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12974-018-1308-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.