Amygdala interneuron subtypes control fear learning through disinhibition

Steffen B. E. Wolff, Jan Gründemann, Philip Tovote, Sabine Krabbe, Gilad A. Jacobson, Christian Müller, Cyril Herry, Ingrid Ehrlich, Rainer W. Friedrich, Johannes J. Letzkus () and Andreas Lüthi ()
Additional contact information
Steffen B. E. Wolff: Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, CH-4058 Basel, Switzerland
Jan Gründemann: Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, CH-4058 Basel, Switzerland
Philip Tovote: Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, CH-4058 Basel, Switzerland
Sabine Krabbe: Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, CH-4058 Basel, Switzerland
Gilad A. Jacobson: Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, CH-4058 Basel, Switzerland
Christian Müller: Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, CH-4058 Basel, Switzerland
Cyril Herry: INSERM U862, Neurocentre Magendie, 146 rue Leo Saignat, 33077 Bordeaux, France
Ingrid Ehrlich: Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
Rainer W. Friedrich: Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, CH-4058 Basel, Switzerland
Johannes J. Letzkus: Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, CH-4058 Basel, Switzerland
Andreas Lüthi: Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, CH-4058 Basel, Switzerland

Nature, 2014, vol. 509, issue 7501, 453-458

Abstract: Abstract Learning is mediated by experience-dependent plasticity in neuronal circuits. Activity in neuronal circuits is tightly regulated by different subtypes of inhibitory interneurons, yet their role in learning is poorly understood. Using a combination of in vivo single-unit recordings and optogenetic manipulations, we show that in the mouse basolateral amygdala, interneurons expressing parvalbumin (PV) and somatostatin (SOM) bidirectionally control the acquisition of fear conditioning—a simple form of associative learning—through two distinct disinhibitory mechanisms. During an auditory cue, PV+ interneurons are excited and indirectly disinhibit the dendrites of basolateral amygdala principal neurons via SOM+ interneurons, thereby enhancing auditory responses and promoting cue–shock associations. During an aversive footshock, however, both PV+ and SOM+ interneurons are inhibited, which boosts postsynaptic footshock responses and gates learning. These results demonstrate that associative learning is dynamically regulated by the stimulus-specific activation of distinct disinhibitory microcircuits through precise interactions between different subtypes of local interneurons.

Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature13258 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:509:y:2014:i:7501:d:10.1038_nature13258

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature13258

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().