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
Extinction Training and Memory Expression
Objective: To observe sustained conditioned tone responses in prelimbic prefrontal cortex neurons and correlate them with freezing behavior during habituation, conditioning, and extinction phases of auditory fear conditioning
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Equipment1
Not specified • Not specified • Not specified • Not specified
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Protocol Steps
Habituation Phase
Rats are habituated to the experimental environment and tone stimulus
Note: Part of the experimental phases where PL tone responses are recorded
View evidence from paper
“PL tone responses were also correlated with conditioned freezing across different experimental phases (habituation, conditioning, extinction)”
Auditory Fear Conditioning
Rats undergo auditory fear conditioning where a tone conditioned stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus
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 Recording
A 30 second tone is presented while multichannel unit recordings are made from prelimbic prefrontal cortex neurons
Note: Freezing behavior is recorded on a second-to-second basis 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 undergo extinction training where the conditioned tone is presented without the unconditioned stimulus
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”
Extinction Memory Expression Testing
Testing of extinction memory expression by presenting the conditioned tone and measuring freezing behavior and PL neuron responses
Note: Correlations between PL responses and freezing behavior are measured across all experimental phases
View evidence from paper
“PL tone responses were also correlated with conditioned freezing across different experimental phases (habituation, conditioning, extinction)”