Learning processes allow organisms (including humans) to adapt their behavior to changes in the environment, and are thus crucial for survival. However, learning does not take place in a vacuum. Indeed, most learning experiences occur within complex environments composed of visual, auditory, olfactory, and tactile stimuli. To successfully learn about biologically significant events (e.g., the presence of food or prey) that occur within particular environments, animals must first combine individual features of the environment into an integrated memory, or context representation. Contemporary research suggests that this type of learning occurs within cortico-hippocampal networks in the brain. However, the exact pathways and individual functions of particular regions essential for learning about contexts have not been fully resolved. The overarching hypothesis of this proposal is that the restrosplenial cortex (RSP) is essential for forming integrated context representations, and that the postrhinal cortex (POR) is essential for updating these memories. This proposal addresses unanswered questions about the neural substrates of contextual fear learning (Specific Aim 1). It also addresses the functional role of RSP and POR in the recovery of fear to a previously extinguished fear cue. Fear extinction is context specific, and recovery can result either from re-experiencing the aversive event (i.e., reinstatement;
Specific Aim 2) or when a significant amount of time has passed since fear extinction occurred (i.e., spontaneous recovery;
Specific Aim 3). In all studies, RSP and POR will be temporally inactivated using a new and innovative technique: Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADDs). This temporary inactivation will allow for isolation of the role of these regions during encoding and/or retrieval processes. In sum, this proposal examines the role of RSP and POR in context learning and fear extinction, two processes that are important in the development and subsequent treatment of several mental illnesses in humans (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder: PTSD; anxiety related disorders, phobias). Further, the RSP is known to be compromised in human disorders such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. Therefore, investigating the role of RSP and POR, during both fear learning and fear extinction, could prove to be especially informative to clinical practice in humans.

Public Health Relevance

This project has the potential to produce novel insights into the neural substrates of learning and memory, particularly contextual fear learning and fear extinction. By investigating the neural substrates of context learning and fear extinction (the animal model of cue-exposure therapy in humans), this work may lead to a deeper understanding of cue-exposure therapy, a commonly employed therapy used to treat a variety of human disorders (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder: PTSD, anxiety related disorders, phobias). Further, by investigating a brain region (the retrosplenial cortex) that is known to be compromised in human disorders such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease, the proposed experiments may inform clinical practice and treatments for these disorders.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F32)
Project #
5F32MH105125-02
Application #
8891962
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1)
Program Officer
Desmond, Nancy L
Project Start
2014-08-01
Project End
2017-07-31
Budget Start
2015-08-01
Budget End
2016-07-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2015
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Dartmouth College
Department
Psychology
Type
Graduate Schools
DUNS #
041027822
City
Hanover
State
NH
Country
United States
Zip Code
Khokhar, Jibran Y; Todd, Travis P (2018) Behavioral predictors of alcohol drinking in a neurodevelopmental rat model of schizophrenia and co-occurring alcohol use disorder. Schizophr Res 194:91-97
Todd, Travis P; Jiang, Matthew Y; DeAngeli, Nicole E et al. (2018) A functional circuit for the retrieval of remote cued fear memory. Behav Neurosci 132:403-408
Chang, Stephen E; Todd, Travis P; Smith, Kyle S (2018) Paradoxical accentuation of motivation following accumbens-pallidum disconnection. Neurobiol Learn Mem 149:39-45
Todd, Travis P; Jiang, Matthew Y; DeAngeli, Nicole E et al. (2017) Intact renewal after extinction of conditioned suppression with lesions of either the retrosplenial cortex or dorsal hippocampus. Behav Brain Res 320:143-153
Todd, Travis P; DeAngeli, Nicole E; Jiang, Matthew Y et al. (2017) Retrograde amnesia of contextual fear conditioning: Evidence for retrosplenial cortex involvement in configural processing. Behav Neurosci 131:46-54
Todd, Travis P; Huszár, Roman; DeAngeli, Nicole E et al. (2016) Higher-order conditioning and the retrosplenial cortex. Neurobiol Learn Mem 133:257-264
Todd, Travis P; Mehlman, Max L; Keene, Christopher S et al. (2016) Retrosplenial cortex is required for the retrieval of remote memory for auditory cues. Learn Mem 23:278-88
Todd, Travis P; Bucci, David J (2015) Retrosplenial Cortex and Long-Term Memory: Molecules to Behavior. Neural Plast 2015:414173
Jordan, Wesley P; Todd, Travis P; Bucci, David J et al. (2015) Habituation, latent inhibition, and extinction. Learn Behav 43:143-52
Todd, Travis P; Meyer, Heidi C; Bucci, David J (2015) Contribution of the retrosplenial cortex to temporal discrimination learning. Hippocampus 25:137-41

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