2015 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Circuit microendophenotypes for post-traumatic stress disorder
Publicly Offered Research
| Project Area | Unraveling micro-endophenotypes of psychiatric disorders at the molecular, cellular and circuit levels. |
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| Project/Area Number |
15H01301
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| Research Institution | Institute of Physical and Chemical Research |
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Principal Investigator |
JOHANSEN JOSHUA 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, チームリーダー (80625351)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
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| Keywords | fear learning / teaching signal / prediction error |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In Heisei 27 we have made great progress. We aimed to map anatomical pathways from the midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG) to the amygdala through which aversive information could produce fear learning. Using viral tracing we identified specific pathways from dorsal and ventral PAG through the centromedial and paraventricular nuclei of the thalamus to the lateral amygdala. We also found that optogenetic manipulation of different parts of this pathway had distinct effects on fear learning.
In addition to examining the pathway to the amygdala from the PAG we also examined how prediction errors are encoded in the PAG and LA. We found that neurons in the dorsal PAG subregion encode prediction errors that are affected by manipulations of a feedback from central nucleus of the amygdala to the ventral PAG. We then examined how feedback from the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) provides feedback to control prediction error coding. To do this we performed electrophysiological recordings in vlPAG neurons in awake behaving anmials. We found that auditory predictive cues activate a specific population of vlPAG neurons and that this activation was dependent on inputs from the CeA.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
everything proceeded smoothly
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In the next fiscal year we will more carefully define the functional contribution of different parts of the PAG-thalamus-lateral amygdala pathway. In addition, we will continue examining how negative feedback produces prediction error coding in dorsal PAG neurons.
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Research Products
(6 results)
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[Journal Article] Evaluation of ambiguous associations in the amygdala by learning the structure of the environment.2016
Author(s)
Madarasz, T.J., Diaz-Mataix, L., Akhand, O., Ycu, E.A., LeDoux, J.E., Johansen, J.P.
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Journal Title
Nature Neuroscience
Volume: In press
Pages: In press
DOI
Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research / Acknowledgement Compliant
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