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The Journal of Neuroscience, February 1, 2006, 26(5):1616-1623; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4964-05.2006

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Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Amygdala Regulation of Immediate-Early Gene Expression in the Hippocampus Induced by Contextual Fear Conditioning

Nicole C. Huff, Matthew Frank, Karli Wright-Hardesty, David Sprunger, Patricia Matus-Amat, Emily Higgins, and Jerry W. Rudy

Department of Psychology, Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309

Correspondence should be addressed to Jerry W. Rudy, Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, 345 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309. Email: JRudy{at}clipr.colorado.edu

The basolateral nuclei of the amygdala (BLA) are thought to modulate memory storage in other brain regions (McGaugh, 2004). We reported that BLA modulates the memory for both an explored context and for contextual fear conditioning. Both of these memories depend on the hippocampus. Here, we examined the hypothesis that the BLA exerts its modulatory effect by regulating the expression of immediate-early genes (IEGs) in the hippocampus. The main findings of these experiments were: (1) Arc activity-regulated cytoskeletal protein (Arc), an immediate-early gene (also termed Arg 3.1) and c-fos mRNA are induced in the hippocampus after a context exposure, or context plus shock experience, but not after an immediate shock; and (2) BLA inactivation with muscimol attenuated the increase in Arc and c-fos mRNA in the hippocampus associated with contextual fear conditioning but did not influence Arc mRNA associated with context exploration. These results support the hypothesis that the amygdala modulates contextual fear memory by regulating expression of IEGs in the hippocampus.

Key words: contextual fear; amygdala; modulation; consolidation; immediate-early genes; Arc; c-fos

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Received July 28, 2005; revised Dec. 20, 2005; accepted Dec. 21, 2005.

Correspondence should be addressed to Jerry W. Rudy, Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, 345 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309. Email: JRudy{at}clipr.colorado.edu

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