MOLECULAR REGULATION OF GABAA RECEPTORS IN THE AMYGDALA

这个子项目是众多研究子项目之一

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The goal of this project is to examine the hypothesis that activity-dependent downregulation of the GABAA receptor complex is a common mechanism shared by fear conditioning and benzodiazepine use, and that this shared mechanism may mediate stress-dependent relapse of addiction. This proposal utilizes molecular genetic approaches to examining the pre- and post-synaptic regulation of amygdala GABAA receptors following fear conditioning and acute, chronic and withdrawal phases of benzodiazepine use. During the reporting period we have completed analyses of GABA-A mRNA expression at baseline, following conditioned fear learning and following extinction of conditioned fear. We have also found significant effects on behavior when the GABA-alpha1 subunit is deleted from hippocampus and amygdala.