Thalamic nucleus reuniens coordinates prefrontal-hippocampal synchrony to suppress extinguished fear
Abstract Traumatic events result in vivid and enduring fear memories. Suppressing the retrieval of these memories is central to behavioral therapies for pathological fear. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and hippocampus (HPC) have been implicated in retrieval suppression, but how mPFC-HPC activi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2023-10-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-42315-1 |
| _version_ | 1797557981852729344 |
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| author | Michael S. Totty Tuğçe Tuna Karthik R. Ramanathan Jingji Jin Shaun E. Peters Stephen Maren |
| author_facet | Michael S. Totty Tuğçe Tuna Karthik R. Ramanathan Jingji Jin Shaun E. Peters Stephen Maren |
| author_sort | Michael S. Totty |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Traumatic events result in vivid and enduring fear memories. Suppressing the retrieval of these memories is central to behavioral therapies for pathological fear. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and hippocampus (HPC) have been implicated in retrieval suppression, but how mPFC-HPC activity is coordinated during extinction retrieval is unclear. Here we show that after extinction training, coherent theta oscillations (6–9 Hz) in the HPC and mPFC are correlated with the suppression of conditioned freezing in male and female rats. Inactivation of the nucleus reuniens (RE), a thalamic hub interconnecting the mPFC and HPC, reduces extinction-related Fos expression in both the mPFC and HPC, dampens mPFC-HPC theta coherence, and impairs extinction retrieval. Conversely, theta-paced optogenetic stimulation of RE augments fear suppression and reduces relapse of extinguished fear. Collectively, these results demonstrate a role for RE in coordinating mPFC-HPC interactions to suppress fear memories after extinction. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T17:23:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fc108b4d04a5459f8f452d0bc63b5c6f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T17:23:58Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj.art-fc108b4d04a5459f8f452d0bc63b5c6f2023-11-20T10:15:22ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232023-10-0114111210.1038/s41467-023-42315-1Thalamic nucleus reuniens coordinates prefrontal-hippocampal synchrony to suppress extinguished fearMichael S. Totty0Tuğçe Tuna1Karthik R. Ramanathan2Jingji Jin3Shaun E. Peters4Stephen Maren5Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M UniversityDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M UniversityDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M UniversityDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M UniversityDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M UniversityDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M UniversityAbstract Traumatic events result in vivid and enduring fear memories. Suppressing the retrieval of these memories is central to behavioral therapies for pathological fear. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and hippocampus (HPC) have been implicated in retrieval suppression, but how mPFC-HPC activity is coordinated during extinction retrieval is unclear. Here we show that after extinction training, coherent theta oscillations (6–9 Hz) in the HPC and mPFC are correlated with the suppression of conditioned freezing in male and female rats. Inactivation of the nucleus reuniens (RE), a thalamic hub interconnecting the mPFC and HPC, reduces extinction-related Fos expression in both the mPFC and HPC, dampens mPFC-HPC theta coherence, and impairs extinction retrieval. Conversely, theta-paced optogenetic stimulation of RE augments fear suppression and reduces relapse of extinguished fear. Collectively, these results demonstrate a role for RE in coordinating mPFC-HPC interactions to suppress fear memories after extinction.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-42315-1 |
| spellingShingle | Michael S. Totty Tuğçe Tuna Karthik R. Ramanathan Jingji Jin Shaun E. Peters Stephen Maren Thalamic nucleus reuniens coordinates prefrontal-hippocampal synchrony to suppress extinguished fear Nature Communications |
| title | Thalamic nucleus reuniens coordinates prefrontal-hippocampal synchrony to suppress extinguished fear |
| title_full | Thalamic nucleus reuniens coordinates prefrontal-hippocampal synchrony to suppress extinguished fear |
| title_fullStr | Thalamic nucleus reuniens coordinates prefrontal-hippocampal synchrony to suppress extinguished fear |
| title_full_unstemmed | Thalamic nucleus reuniens coordinates prefrontal-hippocampal synchrony to suppress extinguished fear |
| title_short | Thalamic nucleus reuniens coordinates prefrontal-hippocampal synchrony to suppress extinguished fear |
| title_sort | thalamic nucleus reuniens coordinates prefrontal hippocampal synchrony to suppress extinguished fear |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-42315-1 |
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