Extinction of conditioned fear in rats provides a useful animal model for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Extinction involves the formation of an inhibitory memory that competes with the fear memory to reduce the expression of fear. One of the hallmarks of extinction is its context dependency: extinction learned in one context does not transfer to another. Recent evidence suggests a vital role for the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in extinction recall [and a] a role for the dorsal hippocampus (dHPC) in contextual modulation of extinction recall. During this Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, I will investigate the contextual modulation of mPFC neuronal activity during extinction recall and examine the role of dHPC in mediating this contextual modulation.
Specific Aim 1 : Spontaneous and CS-evoked neuronal activity in mPFC will be measured to determine its role in signaling extinction contexts.
Specific Aim 2 : After inactivation of [dHPC], mPFC neuronal activity will be measured to examine the degree to which the context-dependency of extinction retrieval relies upon hippocampal-prefrontal interactions. Understanding the neural mechanisms of contextual regulation of extinction could lead to more effective therapies for PTSD. ? ? ?

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F32)
Project #
7F32MH077444-02
Application #
7406547
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-F02A-H (20))
Program Officer
Curvey, Mary F
Project Start
2006-08-01
Project End
2008-07-31
Budget Start
2007-03-01
Budget End
2007-07-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2006
Total Cost
$19,640
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras
Department
Type
DUNS #
090051616
City
San Juan
State
PR
Country
United States
Zip Code
00926