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Full-Text Articles in Neuroscience and Neurobiology

Functionally Distinct Pools Of Calcineurin Contribute To Depotentiation-Like Synaptic Changes In The Lateral Amygdala During Auditory Fear Extinction, Elena Kay Rotondo Dec 2015

Functionally Distinct Pools Of Calcineurin Contribute To Depotentiation-Like Synaptic Changes In The Lateral Amygdala During Auditory Fear Extinction, Elena Kay Rotondo

Theses and Dissertations

Until recently, auditory fear extinction was not thought to modify substrates involved in the storage of the original auditory fear memory. Evidence now suggests that extinction results in the reversal of the fear conditioning-induced potentiation of thalamic inputs to the lateral amygdala. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that support this depotentiation of synaptic strength. Here we present behavioral and molecular evidence in support of the contribution of two distinct pools of the protein phosphatase calcineurin to depotentiation-like changes in lateral amygdala AMPA receptor trafficking during auditory fear extinction. Calcineurin protein that exists prior to the onset of …


Relationship Between Learning-Related Synaptic And Intrinsic Plasticity Within Lateral Amygdala, Megha Sehgal Aug 2015

Relationship Between Learning-Related Synaptic And Intrinsic Plasticity Within Lateral Amygdala, Megha Sehgal

Theses and Dissertations

A central question in neuroscience is to determine the mechanisms that govern formation, storage and modulation of memories. Determining these mechanisms would allow us to facilitate new memory formation as in the case of aging-related cognitive decline or weaken preexisting pathological memories such as traumatic memories and cue-induced drug craving. Pharmacological and genetic manipulation of intrinsic neuronal excitability has been demonstrated to impact the strength of memory formation, allocation of memories, and modulation of memories through retrieval and reconsolidation-dependent processes. In addition to experimental manipulations of intrinsic excitability, intrinsic plasticity, a change in neuronal intrinsic excitability, can be brought about …


Regulation Of Mtor And Erk Signaling In The Amygdala Through Proteolytic Modulation Of Pp2a Activity Following Auditory Fear Learning, David Sylvan Reis May 2015

Regulation Of Mtor And Erk Signaling In The Amygdala Through Proteolytic Modulation Of Pp2a Activity Following Auditory Fear Learning, David Sylvan Reis

Theses and Dissertations

The consolidation of fear memories is known to depend on a number of critical cellular processes including de novo protein synthesis and 26S proteasome-dependent protein degradation following auditory fear conditioning (Jarome et al., 2011; Kwapis et al., 2011). Early work has suggested that protein degradation, mediated by the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS), may regulate the requirement for de novo protein synthesis during memory consolidation (Jarome & Helmstetter, 2014). However, the precise way in which the UPS is able to regulate mechanisms of protein synthesis remain unclear. In the present set of experiments, we investigated the role of the protein phosphatase …