Gu Tengyu, Dong Jing, Ge Jing, Feng Jialu, Liu Xiaoliu, Chen Yun, Liu Jianfeng
Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Occupational Hazard Identification and Control, School of Medicine, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
College of Life Sciences and Health, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Front Psychiatry. 2024 Apr 19;15:1387507. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1387507. eCollection 2024.
The claustrum (CLA), a subcortical area between the insular cortex and striatum, innervates almost all cortical regions of the mammalian brain. There is growing evidence that CLA participates in many brain functions, including memory, cognition, and stress response. It is proposed that dysfunction or malfunction of the CLA might be the pathology of some brain diseases, including stress-induced depression and anxiety. However, the role of the CLA in fear memory and anxiety disorders remains largely understudied.
We evaluated the influences of neurotoxic lesions of the CLA using auditory-cued fear memory and anxiety-like behaviors in rats.
We found that lesions of anterior CLA (aCLA) but not posterior CLA (pCLA) before fear conditioning attenuated fear retrieval, facilitated extinction, and reduced freezing levels during the extinction retention test. Post-learning lesions of aCLA but not pCLA facilitated fear extinction and attenuated freezing behavior during the extinction retention test. Lesions of aCLA or pCLA did not affect anxiety-like behaviors evaluated by the open field test and elevated plus-maze test.
These data suggested that aCLA but not pCLA was involved in fear memory and extinction. Future studies are needed to further investigate the anatomical and functional connections of aCLA subareas that are involved in fear conditioning, which will deepen our understanding of CLA functions.
屏状核（CLA）是位于岛叶皮质和纹状体之间的一个皮质下区域，支配着哺乳动物大脑的几乎所有皮质区域。越来越多的证据表明，屏状核参与多种脑功能，包括记忆、认知和应激反应。有人提出，屏状核的功能障碍或故障可能是某些脑部疾病的病理基础，包括应激性抑郁和焦虑。然而，屏状核在恐惧记忆和焦虑症中的作用仍 largely 未得到充分研究。
我们利用大鼠的听觉线索恐惧记忆和焦虑样行为评估了屏状核神经毒性损伤的影响。
我们发现，在恐惧条件反射前，前屏状核（aCLA）而非后屏状核（pCLA）的损伤减弱了恐惧恢复，促进了消退，并在消退保持测试中降低了僵住水平。学习后 aCLA 而非 pCLA 的损伤促进了恐惧消退，并在消退保持测试中减弱了僵住行为。aCLA 或 pCLA 的损伤不影响通过旷场试验和高架十字迷宫试验评估的焦虑样行为。
这些数据表明，aCLA 而非 pCLA 参与了恐惧记忆和消退。未来需要进一步研究参与恐惧条件反射的 aCLA 亚区的解剖和功能连接，这将加深我们对屏状核功能的理解。
