Amygdala-ventral striatum circuit activation decreases long-term fear
Name
Correia-2016-Amygdala-ventral striatum circuit.pdf
Size
2.31 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
dos Santos Correia, Susana Maria
McGrath, Anna
Lee, Allison M.
Graybiel, Ann M
Goosens, Ki Ann
Date Issued
September 2016
Journal
eLife
Publisher
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd.
Citation
Correia, Susana S, Anna G McGrath, Allison Lee, Ann M Graybiel, and Ki A Goosens. “Amygdala-Ventral Striatum Circuit Activation Decreases Long-Term Fear.” eLife 5 (September 27, 2016).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
In humans, activation of the ventral striatum, a region associated with reward processing, is associated with the extinction of fear, a goal in the treatment of fear-related disorders. This evidence suggests that extinction of aversive memories engages reward-related circuits, but a causal relationship between activity in a reward circuit and fear extinction has not been demonstrated. Here, we identify a basolateral amygdala (BLA)-ventral striatum (NAc) pathway that is activated by extinction training. Enhanced recruitment of this circuit during extinction learning, either by pairing reward with fear extinction training or by optogenetic stimulation of this circuit during fear extinction, reduces the return of fear that normally follows extinction training. Our findings thus identify a specific BLA-NAc reward circuit that can regulate the persistence of fear extinction and point toward a potential therapeutic target for disorders in which the return of fear following extinction therapy is an obstacle to treatment.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.12669
