1. Neuroscience. 2018 Dec 12. pii: S0306-4522(18)30798-X.

doi:
10.1016/j.neuroscience.2018.12.004. [Epub ahead of print]

Localization of Contextual and Context Removed Auditory Fear Memory within the
Basolateral Amygdala Complex.

Chaaya N(1), Jacques A(1), Belmer A(2), Richard DJ(3), Bartlett SE(2), Battle
AR(4), Johnson LR(5).

Author information:
(1)School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology,
Brisbane, Australia; Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland
University of Technology at Translational Research Institute, Brisbane,
Australia.
(2)Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of
Technology at Translational Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia; School of
Clinical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
(3)Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of
Technology at Translational Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia; School of
Biomedical Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
(4)Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of
Technology at Translational Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia; School of
Biomedical Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia; The
University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, Brisbane, QLD, 4102, Australia.
(5)School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology,
Brisbane, Australia; Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland
University of Technology at Translational Research Institute, Brisbane,
Australia; Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, Department of Psychiatry,
USU School of Medicine, Bethesda, MD, USA. Electronic address:
lukejohnsonphd@gmail.com.

Debilitating and persistent fear memories can rapidly form in humans following
exposure to traumatic events. Fear memories can also be generated and studied in
animals via Pavlovian fear conditioning. The current study was designed to
evaluate basolateral amygdala complex involvement following the formation of
different fear memories (two contextual fear memories and one adjusted auditory
fear memory). Fear memories were created in the same context with five 1.0 mA
(0.50 s) foot-shocks and, where necessary, five auditory tones (5 kHz, 75 dB, 20
s). The adjusted auditory fear conditioning protocol was employed to remove
background contextual fear and produce isolated auditory fear memories.
Immunofluorescent labelling was utilised to identify neurons expressing immediate
early genes. We found the two contextual fear conditioning procedures to produce
similar levels of fear-related freezing to context. Contextual fear memories
produced increases in basolateral amygdala complex immediate early gene
expression with distinct and separate patterns of expression. These data suggest
contextual fear memories created in slightly altered contexts, can produce unique
patterns of amygdala activation. The adjusted auditory fear conditioning
procedure produced memories to a tone, but not to a context. This group, where no
contextual fear was present, had a significant reduction in basolateral amygdala
complex immediate early gene expression. These data suggest background contextual
fear memories, created in standard auditory fear conditioning protocols,
contribute significantly to increases in amygdala activation.

Copyright © 2018 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2018.12.004
PMID: 30552931