Laboratory of Biological Psychology, University of Leuven.
Learn2Trust Research Group, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Neuroreport. 2023 Sep 6;34(13):664-669. doi: 10.1097/WNR.0000000000001938. Epub 2023 Jul 17.
Neurobeachin ( NBEA ) is a cytoplasmic protein that regulates receptor trafficking, neurotransmitter and hormone secretion, as well as synaptic connectivity. Recently, hippocampus-dependent contextual extinction, the gradual decrease of a conditioned fear response to a context, was suggested to be specifically impaired in male mice with Nbea deficiency ( Nbea+/- ). The current study examines the role of sex in this effect and whether Nbea also influences cued fear conditioning. We included both female and male mice and used a phased contextual and cued fear acquisition protocol that consists of different phases allowing us to assess fear acquisition, cued and contextual fear memory and within-phase extinction. Performance of Nbea+/- mice during assessment of both contextual and cued fear memory was significantly altered compared to controls, independent of sex. Follow-up analyses revealed that this altered performance could be indicative of impaired within-phase extinction. Altered within-phase extinction was not exclusively attributable to hippocampus, and independent of sex. Our results rather suggest that Nbea influences complex learning more broadly across different brain structures.
神经海滩蛋白（NBEA）是一种细胞质蛋白，可调节受体运输、神经递质和激素分泌以及突触连接。最近，有人提出，依赖海马体的情境性消退（即对情境的条件性恐惧反应逐渐减弱）在 Nbea 缺陷（Nbea+/-）的雄性小鼠中特异性受损。本研究探讨了性别的作用以及 Nbea 是否也会影响提示性恐惧条件作用。我们纳入了雌雄小鼠，并使用了分阶段的情境性和提示性恐惧获得方案，该方案包含不同的阶段，允许我们评估恐惧获得、提示性和情境性恐惧记忆以及同阶段消退。与对照组相比，Nbea+/- 小鼠在评估情境性和提示性恐惧记忆时的表现明显改变，而与性别无关。后续分析表明，这种改变的表现可能表明同阶段消退受损。同阶段消退的改变不仅归因于海马体，而且与性别无关。我们的结果表明，Nbea 更广泛地影响了不同脑结构中的复杂学习。
