Department of Biology, Barnard College of Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
Department of Neuroscience and Behavior, Barnard College of Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
Learn Mem. 2023 Aug 24;30(8):164-168. doi: 10.1101/lm.053797.123. Print 2023 Aug.
An inability to reduce fear in nonthreatening environments characterizes many anxiety disorders. The pathway from the ventral subiculum (vSUB) to the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) is more active in safe contexts than in aversive ones, as indexed by FOS expression. Here, we used chemogenetic techniques to specifically activate the vSUB-BNST pathway during both context and cued fear expression by expressing a Cre-dependent hM3D(Gq) receptor in BNST-projecting vSUB neurons. Activation of the vSUB-BNST pathway reduced context but not cued fear expression. These data suggest that the vSUB-BNST pathway contributes to behavioral responses to nonaversive contexts.
在非威胁环境中无法减轻恐惧是许多焦虑症的特征。腹侧 subiculum（vSUB）到终纹床核（BNST）的通路在安全环境中的活性高于厌恶环境，这可以通过 FOS 表达来衡量。在这里，我们通过在 BNST 投射 vSUB 神经元中表达 Cre 依赖性 hM3D(Gq)受体，在环境和线索恐惧表达期间使用化学遗传技术特异性激活 vSUB-BNST 通路。激活 vSUB-BNST 通路减少了环境但没有减少线索恐惧表达。这些数据表明，vSUB-BNST 通路有助于对非厌恶环境的行为反应。
