Source Paper
Sustained Conditioned Responses in Prelimbic Prefrontal Neurons Are Correlated with Fear Expression and Extinction Failure
A. Burgos-Robles, I. Vidal-Gonzalez, G. J. Quirk
Journal of Neuroscience • 2009
Auditory Fear Conditioning
Objective: To investigate sustained conditioned tone responses in prelimbic prefrontal cortex neurons and their correlation with fear expression and extinction failure during auditory fear conditioning
This is a Auditory Fear Conditioning protocol using rat as the model organism. The procedure involves 4 procedural steps, 3 equipment items. Extracted from a 2009 paper published in Journal of Neuroscience.
Model and subjects
rat • Not specified • unknown • Not specified • Not specified
Study window
Estimated timing pending
Core workflow
Habituation phase • Auditory fear conditioning • Tone presentation and freezing measurement
Primary readouts
- Sustained conditioned tone responses in prelimbic prefrontal cortex neurons
- Freezing behavior during 30 second tone presentation
- Correlation between PL tone responses and freezing behavior on second-to-second basis
- Correlation of PL responses across habituation, conditioning, and extinction phases
Key equipment and reagents
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Protocol Steps
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Habituation phase
Rats are habituated to the experimental environment and procedures
Note: Part of experimental phases tracked for correlation analysis
View evidence from paper
“PL tone responses were also correlated with conditioned freezing across different experimental phases (habituation, conditioning, extinction)”
Auditory fear conditioning
Rats learn to associate an auditory tone with an aversive stimulus through paired presentations
Note: Lateral amygdala neurons potentiate their response to the tone during this phase
View evidence from paper
“During auditory fear conditioning, it is well established that lateral amygdala (LA) neurons potentiate their response to the tone conditioned stimulus”
Tone presentation and freezing measurement
A 30 second tone is presented while recording neural activity and observing freezing behavior on a second-to-second basis
Note: Sustained conditioned tone responses in prelimbic cortex are correlated with freezing behavior during tone presentation
View evidence from paper
“we observed sustained conditioned tone responses in PL that were correlated with freezing behavior on a second-to-second basis during the presentation of a 30 s tone”
Extinction training
Rats are exposed to the conditioned tone without the aversive stimulus to extinguish the fear response
Note: Persistence of PL responses after extinction training is associated with failure to express extinction memory
View evidence from paper
“the persistence of PL responses after extinction training was associated with failure to express extinction memory”