α2A肾上腺素受体激动剂guanfacine增强大鼠空间学习能力而不影响条件性

α2A肾上腺素受体选择性激动剂guanfacine对空间工作记忆和选择性注意等前额叶皮层认知功能有重要的、有益的影响.然而,激活α2A受体对于依赖杏仁体和海马回路的恐惧记忆条件反射是否有影响,目前尚不清楚.本研究结果显示,全身给予guanfacine显著提高大鼠在Lashley迷宫中的空间学习能力:guanfacine组大鼠达到学会标准所需要的训练次数和所犯错误的次数显著少于生理盐水对照组大鼠.然而,guanfacine组大鼠场景和声音恐惧记忆的获得/巩固与对照组大鼠相比没有显著差异.结果提示,刺激α2A受体产生的有益效应是任务依赖的:guanfacine改善空间学习能力,但不影响恐惧记忆的获得/巩固.     

The neuronal MAP kinase cascade: a biochemical signal integration system subserving synaptic plasticity and memory

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAP kinase, MAPK) cascade, as the name implies, was originally discovered as a critical regulator of cell division and differentiation. As further details of this signaling cascade were worked out, it became clear that the MAPK cascade is in fact a prototype for a family of signaling cascades that share the motif of three serially linked kinases regulating each other by sequential phosphorylation. Thus, a revised nomenclature arose that uses the term MAPK to refer to the entire superfamily of signaling cascades (comprising the erks, the JNKs and the p38 stress activated protein kinases), and specifies the prototype MAPK as the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (erk). The two erk MAPK isoforms, p44 MAPK and p42 MAPK, are referred to as erk1 and erk2, respectively.The erks are abundantly expressed in neurons in the mature central nervous system, raising the question of why the prototype molecular regulators of cell division and differentiation are present in these non-dividing, terminally differentiated neurons. This review will describe the beginnings of an answer to this question. Interestingly, the general model has begun to emerge that the erk signaling system has been co-opted in mature neurons to function in synaptic plasticity and memory. Moreover, recent insights have led to the intriguing prospect that these molecules serve as biochemical signal integrators and molecular coincidence detectors for coordinating responses to extracellular signals in neurons. In this review I will first outline the essential components of this signal transduction cascade, and briefly describe recent results implicating the erks in mammalian synaptic plasticity and learning. I will then proceed to outline recent results implicating the erks as molecular signal integrators and, potentially, coincidence detectors. Finally, I will speculate on what the critical downstream effectors of the erks are in neurons, and how they might provide a readout of the integrated signal.     

Conditioning properties of social subordination in rats: behavioral and biochemical correlates of anxiety

To develop a socially based model of anxiety, the contextual fear conditioning properties of social defeat were examined in rats. Social threat consisted of exposing intruders to aggressive residents in resident home cage, separated by a partition. During 3 daily encounters, intruders were either defeated or threatened by residents, providing the defeated-threatened (DT) and threatened-threatened (TT) groups respectively. On Day 4, both DT and TT animals were subjected to a social threat only. Additional animals received a 4-day exposure to a novel empty cage (EC group). Further DT, TT, and EC rats were confronted to a different context on Day 4. DT rats exhibited a robust and context-specific anxiety-like response, characterized by significant behavioral and biochemical alterations. DT rats showed increased risk assessment and decreased exploration compared to TT and EC rats that in turn were not different towards each other. DT and TT rats exhibited increased ACTH levels, while only DT rats showed enhanced corticosterone and decreased testosterone levels compared to EC. These differences were context-specific since they were absent confronting animals to a different context and since they were not long lasting. Overall, these data demonstrate the induction of an anxiety-like state in rats through a context conditioning process based upon social factors. The social basis of this paradigm offers good face validity with anxiety disorders, which in humans are mainly related to social factors and associated with HPA axis deregulations. The present procedure may provide a useful experimental model to further investigate the neurobiological mechanisms underlying anxiety-related disorders.     

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。     

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.     

米非司酮对大鼠恐惧条件化及消退的影响

目的：研究米非司酮（RU486）对大鼠恐惧条件化及消退的影响。方法：大鼠连续4天给药（或生理盐水）后开始行为学实验,1 d适应环境;2 d进行恐惧条件化;3 d恐惧消退训练（也是条件化恐惧的表达检测阶段）;4 d进行消退记忆再现检测。结果：在恐惧表达阶段,两处理组与各自对照组大鼠的僵直水平组间差异都无显著性;在消退再现检测阶段,高剂量RU486组大鼠的僵直水平显著高于对照组,低剂量RU486组与对照组大鼠的僵直水平组间差异无显著性。结论：米非司酮损害消退记忆的再现,且这种损害与剂量有关。     

Candidate genes for panic disorder: insight from human and mouse genetic studies

Panic disorder is a major cause of medical attention with substantial social and health service cost. Based on pharmacological studies, research on its etiopathogenesis has been focused on the possible dysfunction of specific neurotransmitter systems. However, recent work has related the genes involved in development, synaptic plasticity and synaptic remodeling to anxiety disorders. This implies that learning processes and changes in perception, interpretation and behavioral responses to environmental stimuli are essential for development of complex anxiety responses secondary to the building of specific brain neural circuits and to adult plasticity. The focus of this review is on progress achieved in identifying genes that confer increased risk for panic disorder through genetic epidemiology and the use of genetically modified mouse models. The integration of human and animal studies targeting behavioral, systems-level, cellular and molecular levels will most probably help identify new molecules with potential impact on the pathogenetic aspects of the disease.     

Trace Fear Conditioning in Mice

In this experiment we present a technique to measure learning and memory. In the trace fear conditioning protocol presented here there are five pairings between a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus. There is a 20 sec trace period that separates each conditioning trial. On the following day freezing is measured during presentation of the conditioned stimulus (CS) and trace period. On the third day there is an 8 min test to measure contextual memory. The representative results are from mice that were presented with the aversive unconditioned stimulus (shock) compared to mice that received the tone presentations without the unconditioned stimulus. Trace fear conditioning has been successfully used to detect subtle learning and memory deficits and enhancements in mice that are not found with other fear conditioning methods. This type of fear conditioning is believed to be dependent upon connections between the medial prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus. One current controversy is whether this method is believed to be amygdala-independent. Therefore, other fear conditioning testing is needed to examine amygdala-dependent learning and memory effects, such as through the delay fear conditioning.     

A hippocampal insulin-growth factor 2 pathway regulates the extinction of fear memories

Extinction learning refers to the phenomenon that a previously learned response to an environmental stimulus, for example, the expression of an aversive behaviour upon exposure to a specific context, is reduced when the stimulus is repeatedly presented in the absence of a previously paired aversive event. Extinction of fear memories has been implicated with the treatment of anxiety disease but the molecular processes that underlie fear extinction are only beginning to emerge. Here, we show that fear extinction initiates upregulation of hippocampal insulin-growth factor 2 (Igf2) and downregulation of insulin-growth factor binding protein 7 (Igfbp7). In line with this observation, we demonstrate that IGF2 facilitates fear extinction, while IGFBP7 impairs fear extinction in an IGF2-dependent manner. Furthermore, we identify one cellular substrate of altered IGF2 signalling during fear extinction. To this end, we show that fear extinction-induced IGF2/IGFBP7 signalling promotes the survival of 17-19-day-old newborn hippocampal neurons. In conclusion, our data suggest that therapeutic strategies that enhance IGF2 signalling and adult neurogenesis might be suitable to treat disease linked to excessive fear memory.