Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis regulates fear to unpredictable threat signals
The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) has been implicated in conditioned fear and anxiety, but the specific factors that engage the BNST in defensive behaviors are unclear. Here we examined whether the BNST mediates freezing to conditioned stimuli (CSs) that poorly predict the onset of aver...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2019-04-01
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| Series: | eLife |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/46525 |
| _version_ | 1811199629956481024 |
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| author | Travis D Goode Reed L Ressler Gillian M Acca Olivia W Miles Stephen Maren |
| author_facet | Travis D Goode Reed L Ressler Gillian M Acca Olivia W Miles Stephen Maren |
| author_sort | Travis D Goode |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) has been implicated in conditioned fear and anxiety, but the specific factors that engage the BNST in defensive behaviors are unclear. Here we examined whether the BNST mediates freezing to conditioned stimuli (CSs) that poorly predict the onset of aversive unconditioned stimuli (USs) in rats. Reversible inactivation of the BNST selectively reduced freezing to CSs that poorly signaled US onset (e.g., a backward CS that followed the US), but did not eliminate freezing to forward CSs even when they predicted USs of variable intensity. Additionally, backward (but not forward) CSs selectively increased Fos in the ventral BNST and in BNST-projecting neurons in the infralimbic region of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), but not in the hippocampus or amygdala. These data reveal that BNST circuits regulate fear to unpredictable threats, which may be critical to the etiology and expression of anxiety. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T01:50:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8a74db3cf5704fb995ed7a5942fd0d82 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T01:50:36Z |
| publishDate | 2019-04-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-8a74db3cf5704fb995ed7a5942fd0d822022-12-22T03:52:57ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2019-04-01810.7554/eLife.46525Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis regulates fear to unpredictable threat signalsTravis D Goode0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1432-8894Reed L Ressler1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0514-8269Gillian M Acca2Olivia W Miles3Stephen Maren4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9342-7411Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Institute for Neuroscience, Texas A&M University, College Station, United StatesDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Institute for Neuroscience, Texas A&M University, College Station, United StatesDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Institute for Neuroscience, Texas A&M University, College Station, United StatesDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Institute for Neuroscience, Texas A&M University, College Station, United StatesDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Institute for Neuroscience, Texas A&M University, College Station, United StatesThe bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) has been implicated in conditioned fear and anxiety, but the specific factors that engage the BNST in defensive behaviors are unclear. Here we examined whether the BNST mediates freezing to conditioned stimuli (CSs) that poorly predict the onset of aversive unconditioned stimuli (USs) in rats. Reversible inactivation of the BNST selectively reduced freezing to CSs that poorly signaled US onset (e.g., a backward CS that followed the US), but did not eliminate freezing to forward CSs even when they predicted USs of variable intensity. Additionally, backward (but not forward) CSs selectively increased Fos in the ventral BNST and in BNST-projecting neurons in the infralimbic region of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), but not in the hippocampus or amygdala. These data reveal that BNST circuits regulate fear to unpredictable threats, which may be critical to the etiology and expression of anxiety.https://elifesciences.org/articles/46525anxietyBNSTfear Conditioningfreezingfos |
| spellingShingle | Travis D Goode Reed L Ressler Gillian M Acca Olivia W Miles Stephen Maren Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis regulates fear to unpredictable threat signals eLife anxiety BNST fear Conditioning freezing fos |
| title | Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis regulates fear to unpredictable threat signals |
| title_full | Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis regulates fear to unpredictable threat signals |
| title_fullStr | Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis regulates fear to unpredictable threat signals |
| title_full_unstemmed | Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis regulates fear to unpredictable threat signals |
| title_short | Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis regulates fear to unpredictable threat signals |
| title_sort | bed nucleus of the stria terminalis regulates fear to unpredictable threat signals |
| topic | anxiety BNST fear Conditioning freezing fos |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/46525 |
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