Premium
Close linkage between calcium/calmodulin kinase II α/β and NMDA‐2A receptors in the lateral amygdala and significance for retrieval of auditory fear conditioning
Author(s) -
Moriya Takahiro,
Kouzu Yasuko,
Shibata Shigenobu,
Kadotani Hiroshi,
Fukunaga Kohji,
Miyamoto Eishichi,
Yoshioka Tohru
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1460-9568.2000.00203.x
Subject(s) - fear conditioning , amygdala , fear processing in the brain , neuroscience , nmda receptor , long term potentiation , basolateral amygdala , psychology , classical conditioning , associative learning , receptor , conditioning , chemistry , biochemistry , statistics , mathematics
The general mechanism underlying memory and learning is an area under intense investigation and debate, yet this mechanism still remains elusive. Auditory fear conditioning (when a tone is paired with a foot shock) is a simple associative form of learning for which many mechanistic details are known. Lesions of the lateral/basolateral nuclei of the amygdala result in the selective impairment of fear conditioning, indicating that this is a key region for this type of learning. Fear conditioning induces a lasting synaptic potentiation in the lateral nuclei of the amygdala. In addition, recent results from several laboratories suggest that N‐methyl‐ d ‐aspartate (NMDA) receptor activation in the amygdala is required for the acquisition and expression of cue‐conditioned fear responses using several kinds of antagonists. Little is known, however, about the signal transduction pathway and molecular substrate underlying fear conditioning. Here we use NMDA receptor‐deficient mice to demonstrate that calmodulin‐dependent kinase II, CaMKIIβ, and CaMKIIα activation involves the NR2A subunit in the lateral/basolateral amygdala during memory retrieval following auditory fear conditioning. These results suggest that auditory fear conditioning involves a close linkage between NMDA2A receptors and the CaMKII cascade.