The role of locus coeruleus noradreneline neurons in fear learning

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26750380
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Basic / Social brain science
• Research Institution: Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
• Principal Investigator: Uematsu Akira 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 脳科学総合研究センター, 基礎科学特別研究員 (90716242)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 青斑核 / ノルアドレナリン / 恐怖条件づけ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this project, we first identified the functional role of locus coeruleus (LC) noradrenaline (NA) neurons by optogenetic manipulation. We found that shock evoked activity of LC-NA is necessary for fear learning and tone evoked activity is required for extinction learning. Consistent with these finding, in-vivo electrophysiology revealed that LC-NA neurons identified with optogenetic inhibition are mostly shock responsive and cue-evoked response is increased after fear conditioning. Finally we tested if LC-NA neurons have heterogeneous functions using recombinant rabies virus expressing light-induced hyperpolarization pump. One population projecting to the amygdala is engaged during aversive emotional learning while a separate population projecting to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is recruited to extinguish aversive emotional responses when they are no longer appropriate.

Free Research Field

神経科学