Nigrostriatal dopamine modulates the striatal-amygdala pathway in auditory fear conditioning

Allen P. F. Chen, Lu Chen, Kaiyo W. Shi, Eileen Cheng, Shaoyu Ge and Qiaojie Xiong ()
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Allen P. F. Chen: SUNY Stony Brook
Lu Chen: SUNY Stony Brook
Kaiyo W. Shi: SUNY Stony Brook
Eileen Cheng: SUNY Stony Brook
Shaoyu Ge: SUNY Stony Brook
Qiaojie Xiong: SUNY Stony Brook

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract The auditory striatum, a sensory portion of the dorsal striatum, plays an essential role in learning and memory. In contrast to its roles and underlying mechanisms in operant conditioning, however, little is known about its contribution to classical auditory fear conditioning. Here, we reveal the function of the auditory striatum in auditory-conditioned fear memory. We find that optogenetically inhibiting auditory striatal neurons impairs fear memory formation, which is mediated through the striatal-amygdala pathway. Using calcium imaging in behaving mice, we find that auditory striatal neuronal responses to conditioned tones potentiate across memory acquisition and expression. Furthermore, nigrostriatal dopaminergic projections plays an important role in modulating conditioning-induced striatal potentiation. Together, these findings demonstrate the existence of a nigro-striatal-amygdala circuit for conditioned fear memory formation and expression.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43066-9

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