Lamprecht Raphael
Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Neurobiology and Ethology, University of Haifa Haifa, Israel.
Front Behav Neurosci. 2011 Jul 14;5:39. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2011.00039. eCollection 2011.
The formation and storage of fear memory is needed to adapt behavior and avoid danger during subsequent fearful events. However, fear memory may also play a significant role in stress and anxiety disorders. When fear becomes disproportionate to that necessary to cope with a given stimulus, or begins to occur in inappropriate situations, a fear or anxiety disorder exists. Thus, the study of cellular and molecular mechanisms underpinning fear memory may shed light on the formation of memory and on anxiety and stress related disorders. Evidence indicates that fear learning leads to changes in neuronal synaptic transmission and morphology in brain areas underlying fear memory formation including the amygdala and hippocampus. The actin cytoskeleton has been shown to participate in these key neuronal processes. Recent findings show that the actin cytoskeleton is needed for fear memory formation and extinction. Moreover, the actin cytoskeleton is involved in synaptic plasticity and in neuronal morphogenesis in brain areas that mediate fear memory. The actin cytoskeleton may therefore mediate between synaptic transmission during fear learning and long-term cellular alterations mandatory for fear memory formation.
恐惧记忆的形成和存储对于在后续恐惧事件中调整行为和避免危险是必要的。然而，恐惧记忆在应激和焦虑症中也可能起重要作用。当恐惧与应对特定刺激所需的恐惧不成比例，或开始在不适当的情况下出现时，就存在恐惧或焦虑症。因此，对恐惧记忆背后的细胞和分子机制的研究可能有助于揭示记忆的形成以及与焦虑和应激相关的疾病。有证据表明，恐惧学习会导致恐惧记忆形成相关脑区（包括杏仁核和海马体）的神经元突触传递和形态发生变化。肌动蛋白细胞骨架已被证明参与这些关键的神经元过程。最近的研究结果表明，肌动蛋白细胞骨架是恐惧记忆形成和消退所必需的。此外，肌动蛋白细胞骨架参与介导恐惧记忆的脑区的突触可塑性和神经元形态发生。因此，肌动蛋白细胞骨架可能在恐惧学习期间的突触传递与恐惧记忆形成所必需的长期细胞改变之间起介导作用。
