0000000000481781
AUTHOR
Juzoh Umemori
A Critical Period for Prefrontal Network Configurations Underlying Psychiatric Disorders and Addiction
The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) has been classically defined as the brain region responsible for higher cognitive functions, including the decision-making process. Ample information has been gathered during the last 40 years in an attempt to understand how it works. We now know extensively about the connectivity of this region and its relationship with neuromodulatory ascending projection areas, such as the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) or the ventral tegmental area (VTA). Both areas are well-known regulators of the reward-based decision-making process and hence likely to be involved in processes like evidence integration, impulsivity or addiction biology, but also in helping us to predict…
Optical activation of TrkB neurotrophin receptor in mouse ventral hippocampus promotes plasticity and facilitates fear extinction
AbstractSuccessful extinction of traumatic memories depends on neuronal plasticity in the fear extinction network. However, the mechanisms involved in the extinction process remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated the fear extinction network by using a new optogenetic technique that allows temporal and spatial control of neuronal plasticity in vivo. We optimized an optically inducible TrkB (CKII-optoTrkB), the receptor of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which can be activated upon blue light exposure to increase plasticity specifically in pyramidal neurons. The activation of CKII-optoTrkB facilitated the induction of LTP in Schaffer collateral-CA1 synapses after brief theta-b…