Differential involvement of amygdalar NMDA receptors in variants of adolescent contextual fear conditioning
| Author(s) | Miller, Lauren A. | |
| Date Accessioned | 2018-09-25T12:43:02Z | |
| Date Available | 2018-09-25T12:43:02Z | |
| Publication Date | 2018 | |
| SWORD Update | 2018-07-26T19:04:46Z | |
| Abstract | The context preexposure facilitation effect (CPFE) is a variant of contextual fear conditioning that consists of three distinct phases in which learning the context (preexposure), the context-shock association (training), and retrieval of the context-shock association (testing) are separated by 24 hours. In contrast, in standard contextual fear conditioning (sCFC), learning of the context and formation of the context-shock association occur in the same training session. In adult rats, disrupting basolateral amygdala (BLA) activity or plasticity during training on sCFC impairs both post-shock and retention freezing (Maren et al., 1996). This manipulation on the training day of the CPFE disrupts retention freezing but effects on post-shock freezing are unknown (Matus-Amat et. al., 2007). Experiment 1 extends this literature from adult to adolescent rats and to the role of BLA in post-shock freezing during the CPFE. Experiment 2 directly compares the role of plasticity within the BLA on training day of sCFC and CPFE. Experiment 3 examines the role of BLA plasticity on retention of contextual fear when acquisition is not tested. In the first experiment, intra-BLA infusions of muscimol prior to the training day of the CPFE disrupted both post-shock and retention freezing in postnatal day (PD) 31-33 rats. In the second two experiments, intra-BLA infusions of APV prior to training day of sCFC disrupts retention but not post-shock freezing, while infusions of APV prior to training of the CPFE disrupt both post-shock and retention freezing. Our findings suggest that the BLA plays a different role in the CPFE vs. sCFC. Its role in the CPFE is similar in both adolescent and adult rats, while the role of the BLA in post-shock freezing during sCFC may differ across age or across studies that employ different procedures or parameters. | en_US |
| Advisor | Stanton, Mark E. | |
| Degree | M.S. | |
| Department | University of Delaware, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences | |
| Unique Identifier | 1054128686 | |
| URL | http://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/23821 | |
| Language | en | |
| Publisher | University of Delaware | en_US |
| URI | https://search.proquest.com/docview/2089435248?accountid=10457 | |
| Keywords | Biological sciences | en_US |
| Keywords | Amygdala | en_US |
| Keywords | Contextual fear conditioning | en_US |
| Keywords | Hippocampus | en_US |
| Keywords | Medial prefrontal cortex | en_US |
| Keywords | NMDA receptor | en_US |
| Keywords | Ontogeny | en_US |
| Title | Differential involvement of amygdalar NMDA receptors in variants of adolescent contextual fear conditioning | en_US |
| Type | Thesis | en_US |