Prior exposure to a single stress session facilitates subsequent contextual fear conditioning in rats. Evidence for a role of corticosterone

Previous studies showed that exposure of rats to chronic restraint stress for 21 days enhances subsequent contextual fear conditioning. Since recent evidence suggest that this effect is not dependent on stress-induced neurodegenerative processes, but to elevated training-elicited glucocorticoid release in chronically stressed animals, we aimed to explore here whether a single exposure to restraint stress, which is not expected to induce neuronal damage, would also affect contextual fear conditioning. We also questioned whether post-training corticosterone levels might be associated with any potential effect of stress on fear conditioning. Adult male Wistar rats were exposed to acute restraint stress for 2 h and, two days later, trained in the contextual fear conditioning task, under training conditions involving either moderate (0.4 mA shock) or high (1 mA shock) stress levels. The results showed that acute stress enhanced conditioned freezing at both training conditions, although data from the 1 mA shock intensity experiment only approached significance. Stressed animals were shown to display higher post-training corticosterone levels. Furthermore, the facilitating effect of prior stress was not evident when animals were trained in the hippocampal-independent auditory-cued conditioning task. Therefore, these findings support the idea that stress experiences preceding exposure to new types of stressors facilitate the development of contextual fear conditioning. They also indicate that not only repeated, but also a single exposure to aversive stimulation is sufficient to facilitate context-dependent fear conditioning, and suggest that increased glucocorticoid release at training might be implicated in the mechanisms mediating the memory facilitating effects induced by prior stress experiences.     

慢性不可预见性应激对大鼠恐惧条件反射和躯体感觉诱发电位的影响

目的:探讨慢性不可预见性应激对大鼠恐惧条件反射以及体感诱发电位的影响并分析可能的神经电生理机制。方法:26只雄性SD大鼠(190~200 g)随机分成两组(n=13):对照组和模型组。用慢性不可预见性应激刺激模型组大鼠,用恐惧条件反射实验检测两组大鼠的恐惧反应,用躯体感觉诱发电位检测大鼠脑电活动。结果:与对照组相比,模型组大鼠在恐惧记忆阶段不动时间百分比减小(56.64%±13.78%vs69.72%±18.10%,P<0.05),躯体感觉诱发电位的第二个正向波(P2)潜伏期也明显缩短(70.54±10.13 msvs78.46±7.80 ms,P<0.05)。相关性分析显示大鼠恐惧条件反射的不动时间与躯体感觉诱发电位潜伏期存在正相关(r=0.507,P<0.05)。结论:慢性不可预见性应激抑制大鼠恐惧反应,并缩短体表感觉诱发电位的潜伏期,恐惧反应行为与体感诱发电位潜伏期存在正相关,提示大鼠恐惧反应与体表感觉诱发电位可能有共同的神经递质机制。     

Selection for contextual fear conditioning affects anxiety-like behaviors and gene expression

Conditioned fear and anxiety-like behaviors have many similarities at the neuroanatomical and pharmacological levels, but their genetic relationship is less well defined. We used short-term selection for contextual fear conditioning (FC) to produce outbred mouse lines with robust genetic differences in FC. The high and low selected lines showed differences in fear learning that were stable across various training parameters and were not secondary to differences in sensitivity to the unconditioned stimulus (foot shock). They also showed a divergence in fear potentiated startle, indicating that differences induced by selection generalized to another measure of fear learning. However, there were no differences in performance in a Pavlovian approach conditioning task or the Morris water maze, indicating no change in general learning ability. The high fear learning line showed greater anxiety-like behavior in the open field and zero maze, confirming a genetic relationship between FC and anxiety-like behavior. Gene expression analysis of the amygdala and hippocampus identified genes that were differentially expressed between the two lines. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis identified several chromosomal regions that may underlie the behavioral response to selection; cis-acting expression QTL were identified in some of these regions, possibly identifying genes that underlie these behavioral QTL. These studies support the validity of a broad genetic construct that includes both learned fear and anxiety and provides a basis for further studies aimed at gene identification.     

Expressing acid-sensing ion channel 3 in the brain alters acid-evoked currents and impairs fear conditioning

Previous studies on mice with a disruption of the gene encoding acid-sensing ion channel 1a (ASIC1a) suggest that ASIC1a is required for normal fear behavior. To investigate the effects of altering the subunit composition of brain ASICs on behavior, we developed transgenic mice expressing ASIC3 via the pan-neuronal synapsin I promoter. These mice express ASIC3 in the brain, where the endogenous ASIC3 protein is not detected. We found that in ASIC3 transgenic mice, ASIC3 co-immunoprecipitated with the endogenous ASIC1a protein and distributed in the same subcellular brain fractions as ASIC1a. In addition, ASIC3 significantly increased the rate of desensitization of acid-evoked currents in cultured cortical neurons. Importantly, ASIC3 reduced Pavlovian fear conditioning to both context and auditory cues. These observations suggest that ASIC3 can heteromultimerize with ASIC1a in the brain and alter the biophysical properties of the endogenous channel complex. Moreover, these data suggest that ASIC subunit composition and channel desensitization may be critical determinants for ASIC-dependent behavior.     

The role of NCAM in auditory fear conditioning and its modulation by stress: a focus on the amygdala

Chronic stress in rodents was shown to induce structural shrinkage and functional alterations in the hippocampus that were linked to spatial memory impairments. Effects of chronic stress on the amygdala have been linked to a facilitation of fear conditioning. Although the underlying molecular mechanisms are still poorly understood, increasing evidence highlights the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) as an important molecular mediator of stress‐induced structural and functional alterations. In this study, we investigated whether altered NCAM expression levels in the amygdala might be related to stress‐induced enhancement of auditory fear conditioning and anxiety‐like behavior. In adult C57BL/6J wild‐type mice, chronic unpredictable stress resulted in an isoform‐specific increase of NCAM expression (NCAM‐140 and NCAM‐180) in the amygdala, as well as enhanced auditory fear conditioning and anxiety‐like behavior. Strikingly, forebrain‐specific conditional NCAM‐deficient mice (NCAM‐floxed mice that express the cre‐recombinase under the control of the promoter of the α‐subunit of the calcium‐calmodulin‐dependent protein kinase II), whose amygdala NCAM expression levels are reduced, displayed impaired auditory fear conditioning which was not altered following chronic stress exposure. Likewise, chronic stress in these conditional NCAM‐deficient mice did not modify NCAM expression levels in the amygdala or hippocampus, while they showed enhanced anxiety‐like behavior, questioning the involvement of NCAM in this type of behavior. Together, our results strongly support the involvement of NCAM in the amygdala in the consolidation of auditory fear conditioning and highlight increased NCAM expression in the amygdala among the mechanisms whereby stress facilitates fear conditioning processes.     

慢性应激不同方式对大鼠血清皮质酮的影响

目的：比较慢性应激不同方式对生理状态大鼠血清皮质酮水平的影响,研究机体慢性应激反应的整体性适应特征。方法：采用连续4周的适宜游泳、束缚和二者复合的三种应激方式后,测定大鼠血清皮质酮基础含量,分析不同慢性应激方式对皮质酮水平的影响。结果：血清皮质酮水平与对照组比较,复合组无显著性差异;游泳组虽升高但无显著性;束缚组升高有显著性意义。结论：束缚可致大鼠血清皮质酮水平增高;初步认定游泳与束缚复合慢性应激方式可能对机体的整体适应性能具有积极意义。     

Serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible kinase1 enhances contextual fear memory formation through down-regulation of the expression of Hes5

Mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase plays an important role in memory formation and directly phosphorylates serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible kinase1 (SGK1) at Ser78. In this study, we examined the role and mechanism of SGK1 Ser78 activation involved in contextual fear memory formation in rats. Results revealed that SGK1 Ser78 phosphorylation was increased 30 min, 1 h and 3 h after training. Transient transfection of the dominant negative mutant of sgk, sgkS78A, to hippocampal neurons impaired, whereas transfection of the constitutively active sgk, sgkS78D, enhanced fear retention. Microarray analysis identified 14 genes that showed more than threefold alteration in their gene expression in sgkS78A-transfected animals 6 h after training. One of them is Hairy and Enhancer of split 5 (Hes5). The expression level of Hes5 is approximately 4.4-fold higher in sgkS78A-transfected animals. Further analyses revealed that Hes5 level is markedly decreased after training in control animals, but sgkS78A markedly increased Hes5 level after training. RNA interference experiment showed that shHes5 dose-dependently enhanced fear retention, whereas over-expression of Hes5 impaired fear retention. Moreover, shHes5 at a lower concentration completely blocked the memory-impairing effect of sgkS78A. These results together suggest that Hes5 negatively regulates contextual fear memory formation and SGK activation down-regulates Hes5 expression to enhance fear retention.     

Contextual fear conditioning differs for infant, adolescent, and adult rats

Contextual fear conditioning was tested in infant, adolescent, and adult rats in terms of Pavlovian-conditioned suppression. When a discrete auditory-conditioned stimulus (CS) was paired with footshock (unconditioned stimulus, US) within the largely olfactory context, infants and adolescents conditioned to the context with substantial effectiveness, but adult rats did not. When unpaired presentations of the CS and US occurred within the context, contextual fear conditioning was strong for adults, weak for infants, but about as strong for adolescents as when pairings of CS and US occurred in the context. Nonreinforced presentations of either the CS or context markedly reduced contextual fear conditioning in infants, but, in adolescents, CS extinction had no effect on contextual fear conditioning, although context extinction significantly reduced it. Neither CS extinction nor context extinction affected responding to the CS–context compound in infants, suggesting striking discrimination between the compound and its components. Female adolescents showed the same lack of effect of component extinction on response to the compound as infants, but CS extinction reduced responding to the compound in adolescent males, a sex difference seen also in adults. Theoretical implications are discussed for the development of perceptual-cognitive processing and hippocampus role.     

RNA interference in hippocampus demonstrates opposing roles for CREB and PP1α in contextual and temporal long-term memory

We injected small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) directly into the hippocampus of wild-type mice, knocking down expression of cyclic AMP responsive element-binding protein (CREB) and disrupting long-term, but not short-term, memory after both contextual and trace fear conditioning. In contrast, similar knockdown of siRNA for protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) was sufficient to enhance contextual and temporal memory formation, thereby demonstrating with such a gain-of-function effect a lack of any general deleterious effect for this method of RNAi-mediated gene knockdown. Our findings clearly confirm that contextual memory formation involves CREB and PP1 as positive and negative regulators, respectively, and show for the first time that temporal memory formation shares this mechanism. More generally, we establish that direct injection of siRNA into identified adult brain regions yields specific gene knockdowns, which can be used to validate in vivo candidate genes involved in behavioral plasticity.     

Hippocampal-amygdala memory circuits govern experience-dependent observational fear

1. Download : Download high-res image (178KB)
2. Download : Download full-size image

     

Behavioural and physiological fear responses in ducks: genetic cross effects

Mule duck, a cross between a Muscovy drake and a Pekin female, is reported by the farmers to frequently express fear behaviours, such as man avoidance. The genetic basis of fear responses in mule ducks was therefore investigated in this study. According to a previous experiment, the dominant effect of Pekin genotype was hypothesised; however, due to the absence of birds from the reciprocal cross, a superiority of the Pekin in additive effect could not be distinguished from a direct maternal additive effect. In order to clarify this, ducks from the mule genotype, the two parental genotypes (Pekin and Muscovy) and the reciprocal intercross (hinny) underwent a set of physiological and individual behavioural tests of fear. Both parental genotypes were highly fearful but exhibited responses of different patterns: Pekin ducks manifested a higher locomotor activity, whereas the Muscovy ducks showed a higher avoidance to man. Hybrids expressed higher panic responses and specific fear of man than the two parent breeds. Both hybrids expressed similar patterns and the maternal effects were not significant. Significant heterosis effects were found for most of the behavioural responses, in agreement with the fact that higher fear responses were expressed by the hybrids compared to the parental genotypes. A significant heterosis effect was also found for basal adrenal activity; hybrids having higher basal level than parental genotypes. Maximum capacity of adrenal response appeared to be determined by direct additive effects with a superiority of the Pekin genotype.     

Proteins linked to extinction in contextual fear conditioning in the C57BL/6J mouse

Studying fear extinction is a major topic in neuroscience. No information on systematic studies on the linkage of contextual fear conditioning (cFC) with hippocampal protein levels is available and we were therefore interested in protein differences between animals with poor and good extinction. cFC was carried out in C57BL/6J mice, hippocampi were taken and proteins were run on two‐dimensional gel electrophoresis with subsequent quantification of protein spots. In‐gel digestion with trypsin and identification by ion trap MS/MS (high‐capacity ion trap) was used for the identification of significantly different hippocampal proteins between mice with good and poor performance of extinction. Signaling protein ras‐related protein rab‐7A and septin 8 levels were significantly higher in hippocampus of poor extinguishers, whereas ubiquitin carboxyterminal hydrolase isozyme L1 showed higher levels in animals with good extinction performance. A series of additional proteins showed significantly different levels between groups but the abovementioned were confirmed by immunoblotting. The abovementioned proteins have never been reported to be linked to extinction, memory, or learning and herein evidence for the involvement of several proteins in extinction mechanism as well as probably representing pharmaceutical targets is provided. Moreover, it is intriguing to demonstrate the differences between good and poor extinction performance at the protein level.     

Learning to fear and cope with a natural stressor: individually and socially acquired corticosterone and avoidance responses to biting flies

Animals learn to recognize and respond to a variety of dangerous factors, with biting and blood-feeding flies being among the most prevalent of natural stressors. Here we describe the behavioral avoidance and hormonal (corticosterone) stress responses to biting fly exposure and the roles of individual and social learning in the acquisition of these fear-associated responses. Male mice exposed to a single 30-min session of attack by intact biting flies (stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans L.) exhibited increased plasma corticosterone levels and active self-burying responses to avoid the flies. When exposed 24 h later to altered flies whose biting mouth parts were removed and were incapable of biting, the mice displayed conditioned increases in corticosterone and avoidance responses. This conditioned increase in corticosterone and self-burying was also acquired through social learning without direct individual experience with the intact biting flies. Fly naive "observer" mice that witnessed other "demonstrator" mice being attacked by biting flies, but were not exposed to intact flies themselves, displayed increases in corticosterone levels and self-burying to avoid flies when exposed 24 h later to altered flies. The social learning was not due to social facilitation or sensitization. Observers had to witness the self-burying avoidance responses of the demonstrator to the biting flies in order to subsequently recognize a potential threat to themselves and display the appropriate responses. These individually and socially acquired conditioned fear responses are likely part of the mechanisms that allow animals to defend themselves from biting and blood-feeding arthropods.     

大鼠恐惧应激模型的建立及其视觉认知效果分析

目的构建不同程度恐惧应激大鼠模型,探究恐惧应激对LE大鼠视觉认知能力的影响。方法采用足底电击作为应激刺激,设计认知抉择实验,采集杏仁核脑区神经响应信号进行功能网络分析,评价大鼠视觉认知效果。首先,将实验大鼠分成强(S+)、弱(S)恐惧应激组与对照组(N),分别设定不同强度的足底电击刺激;然后对其进行单一图形"△"的视觉认知强化训练;最后,采用双图("△"和"十"图形)进行视觉抉择测试实验。另外结合复杂网络理论,构建恐惧应激大鼠杏仁核神经核团的视觉认知功能网络,通过平均路径长度和聚类系数表征脑功能网路的信息传递效率。结果完成视觉认知强化训练所需时间,S+组显著高于S、N组,强化训练前期S组显著高于N组,后期两组无显著性差异;认知抉择实验中,S组与N组均形成视觉认知联结,而S+组未形成视觉认知联结;脑功能网络分析中,S组与N组杏仁核神经元之间形成有效的视觉信息传递,而S+组未形成。结论恐惧应激对视觉认知造成消极影响,且随着恐惧程度的增强认知效果显著变差。