Molecular signaling underlying trace fear conditioning in hippocampus and mPFC

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term objective of this proposal is to determine how the hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and amygdala interact at the systems, cellular, and molecular levels to support the formation of long-term memory. The experiments in this project use a hippocampus-dependent task called trace fear conditioning (TFC), which has a temporal component for which the mPFC may be important. The findings from my doctoral work, which recorded single neurons in the hippocampus and mPFC during TFC, suggest that these structures work together to form trace fear memories (Gilmartin & McEchron, 2005 a,b), but a functional interaction has not been tested. Specific Aim 1 will directly test for a hippocampal-prefrontal interaction during TFC. This aim will combine pharmacological inactivation of the hippocampus with protein immunostaining in the mPFC to determine whether hippocampal activity is necessary for plasticity-related signaling mechanisms in the mPFC. Aim 1 will also include the amygdala. Aim 2 will use targeted infusions of a selective protein translation inhibitor to examine the contribution of translations! mechanisms to trace fear memory formation. Aim 3 will provide new information about whether plasticity-related signaling and protein translation are mediated by a common signaling mechanism during TFC. In addition to western-blot analysis, several experiments will also use immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy to examine differences in protein localization (e.g. prelimbic vs. infralimbic mPFC; dendrites vs. soma). The results of this project will provide new insights into hippocampal-prefrontal function, applicable to several clinically relevant issues. The hippocampus is important for declarative and episodic memories, and the mPFC is implicated in higher-order processes such as decision-making and situation-appropriate behavior. As learned experiences influence our decisions and guide our actions, an interaction between hippocampal and prefrontal networks is critical to a number of different cognitive processes. The results of this proposal will have the potential to guide further research into how these two structures work together during normal as well as aberrant neural processes that affect a significant subset of the human population, such as anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorders.