Encoding of conditioned fear in central amygdala inhibitory circuits

Stephane Ciocchi, Cyril Herry, François Grenier, Steffen B. E. Wolff, Johannes J. Letzkus, Ioannis Vlachos, Ingrid Ehrlich, Rolf Sprengel, Karl Deisseroth, Michael B. Stadler, Christian Müller and Andreas Lüthi ()
Additional contact information
Stephane Ciocchi: Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
Cyril Herry: Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
François Grenier: Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
Steffen B. E. Wolff: Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
Johannes J. Letzkus: Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
Ioannis Vlachos: Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
Ingrid Ehrlich: Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
Rolf Sprengel: Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstrasse 29, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Karl Deisseroth: Stanford University
Michael B. Stadler: Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
Christian Müller: Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
Andreas Lüthi: Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058 Basel, Switzerland

Nature, 2010, vol. 468, issue 7321, 277-282

Abstract: Abstract The central amygdala (CEA), a nucleus predominantly composed of GABAergic inhibitory neurons, is essential for fear conditioning. How the acquisition and expression of conditioned fear are encoded within CEA inhibitory circuits is not understood. Using in vivo electrophysiological, optogenetic and pharmacological approaches in mice, we show that neuronal activity in the lateral subdivision of the central amygdala (CEl) is required for fear acquisition, whereas conditioned fear responses are driven by output neurons in the medial subdivision (CEm). Functional circuit analysis revealed that inhibitory CEA microcircuits are highly organized and that cell-type-specific plasticity of phasic and tonic activity in the CEl to CEm pathway may gate fear expression and regulate fear generalization. Our results define the functional architecture of CEA microcircuits and their role in the acquisition and regulation of conditioned fear behaviour.

Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1038/nature09559

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