Source Paper
Dissociable Roles of Prelimbic and Infralimbic Cortices, Ventral Hippocampus, and Basolateral Amygdala in the Expression and Extinction of Conditioned Fear
Demetrio Sierra-Mercado, Nancy Padilla-Coreano, Gregory J Quirk
Neuropsychopharmacology • 2010
Auditory Fear Conditioning and Extinction
Objective: Assess fear expression and extinction memory following auditory fear conditioning in rats, with selective inactivation of brain regions (IL, PL, BLA, vHPC) to determine their dissociable roles
This is a Auditory Fear Conditioning and Extinction protocol using rat as the model organism. The procedure involves 4 procedural steps, 2 equipment items, 1 materials. Extracted from a 2010 paper published in Neuropsychopharmacology.
Model and subjects
rat • Not specified • unknown • Not specified • Not specified
Study window
Estimated timing pending
Core workflow
Brain region inactivation • Extinction training • Post-extinction testing
Primary readouts
- Fear expression (freezing behavior)
- Within-session acquisition of extinction
- Extinction memory (retention of extinction learning)
- Regional specificity of fear circuits
Key equipment and reagents
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- Verify the animal model, intervention setup, and collection timepoints against the source paper.
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Protocol Steps
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Brain region inactivation
Perform infusions of muscimol to selectively inactivate infralimbic (IL), prelimbic (PL), basolateral amygdala (BLA), or ventral hippocampus (vHPC)
Note: Infusions performed prior to extinction training to assess effects on both fear expression and extinction memory
View evidence from paper
“we used small doses of the GABA A agonist muscimol to selectively inactivate IL, PL, BLA, or vHPC in an auditory fear conditioning and extinction paradigm. Infusions were performed prior to extinction training”
Extinction training
Conduct extinction training session following muscimol infusion
Note: Allows assessment of within-session acquisition of extinction and extinction memory
View evidence from paper
“allowing us to assess the effects on both fear expression and subsequent extinction memory”
Post-extinction testing
Test extinction memory following extinction training
Note: Measures retention of extinction learning
View evidence from paper
“subsequent extinction memory”
Post-extinction inactivation control
Perform inactivations after extinction training as control condition
Note: Post-extinction inactivations had no effect in any structure, serving as control
View evidence from paper
“Post-extinction inactivations had no effect in any structure”