‘Fearful-place’ coding in the amygdala-hippocampal network

eLife

Jeiwon Cho¹  Sanggeon Park²  Larry S Zweifel³  Jeansok J Kim⁴  Eun Joo Kim⁴  Mi-Seon Kong⁵  Yeowool Huh⁶ 

[1] Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Scranton College, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea;Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Scranton College, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea;Institute for Bio-Medical Convergence, International St. Mary’s Hospital, Catholic Kwandong University, Incheon, Republic of Korea;Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, United States;Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington, Seattle, United States;Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, United States;Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, United States;Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, United States;Institute for Bio-Medical Convergence, International St. Mary’s Hospital, Catholic Kwandong University, Incheon, Republic of Korea;Department of Medical Science, College of Medicine, Catholic Kwandong University, Gangneung, Republic of Korea;

关键词: decision making;    fear;    predator;    place cells;    simultaneous recording;    spike synchrony;    Rat;   

DOI  :  10.7554/eLife.72040

来源: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd

【 摘 要 】

Animals seeking survival needs must be able to assess different locations of threats in their habitat. However, the neural integration of spatial and risk information essential for guiding goal-directed behavior remains poorly understood. Thus, we investigated simultaneous activities of fear-responsive basal amygdala (BA) and place-responsive dorsal hippocampus (dHPC) neurons as rats left the safe nest to search for food in an exposed space and encountered a simulated ‘predator.’ In this realistic situation, BA cells increased their firing rates and dHPC place cells decreased their spatial stability near the threat. Importantly, only those dHPC cells synchronized with the predator-responsive BA cells remapped significantly as a function of escalating risk location. Moreover, optogenetic stimulation of BA neurons was sufficient to cause spatial avoidance behavior and disrupt place fields. These results suggest a dynamic interaction of BA’s fear signalling cells and dHPC’s spatial coding cells as animals traverse safe-danger areas of their environment.

【 授权许可】

CC BY