AMYGDALA PLASTICITY DURING FEAR LEARNING

大脑中包含了在危险情况下控制情绪和行为的专门系统。这些系统的功能障碍可能导致许多常见的精神疾病，包括恐惧症、惊恐发作、创伤后应激障碍、强迫症和广泛性焦虑症。更好地了解大脑的恐惧系统可能会导致更有效的治疗这类疾病。众所周知，杏仁核是大脑恐惧系统的重要组成部分。本研究将探讨杏仁核在两个过程中的作用：(1)学习识别危险，(1)学习对危险作出适当反应。老鼠将接受听觉恐惧条件反射的训练，这是一种依赖杏仁核的记忆任务，其中一种无害的听觉音调与电击相结合。在这个任务中，老鼠知道音调预示着危险（电击）。当大鼠学习这项任务时，杏仁核神经元的活动将被记录下来，以测试情绪记忆是否通过一种突触可塑性过程储存在杏仁核中。在老鼠学会这项任务后，他们将被教导通过一扇敞开的门来逃离音调（现在它预示着危险）。当老鼠学会逃离音调时，杏仁核的神经活动将被记录下来，以研究杏仁核如何参与学习对危险的新反应。这项研究可能为情绪学习和记忆的神经机制提供新的见解。

The brain contains specialized for systems that govern emotions and behavior in the presence of danger. Dysfunction of these systems may be responsible for many common psychiatric disorders, including phobia, panic attacks, post-traumatic stress disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. A better understanding of the brain's fear systems may lead to more effective tretments for such disorders. The amygdala is well known to be an essential component of the brain's fear systems. The research proposed here will investigate the amygdala's role in two processes: (1) learning to recognize danger, and () learning to respond to danger appropriately. Rats will be trained in auditory fear conditioning, an amygdala-dependent memory task in which an innocuous auditory tone is paired with electric shock. During this task, rats learn that the tone predicts danger (the shock). The activity of neurons in the amygdala will be recorded as rats learn this task, to test whether emotional memories are stored in the amygdala by a process of Hebbian synaptic plasticity. After rats have learned the task, they will be taught to escape from the tone (which now predicts danger) by navigating through an open doorway. Neural activity will be recorded in the amygdala as rats learn to escape from the tone, to investigate how the amygdala participates in learning new responses to danger. This research may provide new insights into the neural mechanisms for emotional learning and memory.