Cheng Rui, Zhong Wen, Yan Yangqiu, Yao Linhui, Yin Peiran, Xu Ziyi, Qin Xiaoxia, Tan Jie, Zeng Yingying, Liu Jinhua, Xiao Zhongju
Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Key Laboratory of Psychiatric Disorders of Guangdong Province, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Key Laboratory of Mental Health of the Ministry of Education, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, Guangdong, China.
School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine for Qingzhi Diseases, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, Guangdong, China.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 1;15(1):20457. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-05566-0.
Fear retrieval is fundamental for animals to rapidly enter a self-defense state, which enhances their survival rate. Although the cellular mechanisms and neural circuits underlying fear retrieval have been relatively well studied, particularly in classic fear-related nuclei such as the amygdala, the neural circuits and intrinsic microcircuits of some non-classical fear-related nuclei remain poorly understood. A disinhibitory microcircuit in the temporal association cortex (TeA) was identified in this study, demonstrating a critical role in fear retrieval. Additionally, the response of the TeA to fear retrieval is largely driven by acetylcholine (Ach), which then relay information to the tail of striatum (TS) to mediate freezing behavior. Together, these findings demonstrate the essential role of the TeA and its microcircuit in auditory fear retrieval in response to pure tones, providing new insights into the mechanisms of fear retrieval in the cortex.
恐惧提取对于动物迅速进入自我防御状态至关重要，这提高了它们的存活率。尽管恐惧提取背后的细胞机制和神经回路已经得到了相对充分的研究，特别是在经典的恐惧相关核团如杏仁核中，但一些非经典恐惧相关核团的神经回路和内在微回路仍知之甚少。本研究在颞叶联合皮层（TeA）中发现了一个去抑制性微回路，证明其在恐惧提取中起关键作用。此外，TeA对恐惧提取的反应很大程度上由乙酰胆碱（Ach）驱动，然后将信息传递到纹状体尾部（TS）以介导僵住行为。总之，这些发现证明了TeA及其微回路在对纯音的听觉恐惧提取中的重要作用，为皮层恐惧提取机制提供了新的见解。
