Abstract
Fear conditioning involves the induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) of excitatory synaptic transmission in the lateral amygdala, a brain structure which is tightly controlled by GABAergic inhibition. Here we show that dopamine gates the induction of LTP in the mouse lateral amygdala by suppressing feedforward inhibition from local interneurons. Our findings provide a cellular mechanism for the dopaminergic modulation of fear conditioning and indicate that suppression of feedforward inhibition represents a key mechanism for the induction of associative synaptic plasticity in the lateral amygdala.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Amygdala / cytology
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Amygdala / drug effects
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Amygdala / metabolism*
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Animals
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Conditioning, Psychological / drug effects
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Conditioning, Psychological / physiology
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Dopamine / metabolism*
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Dopamine / pharmacology
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Dopamine Agonists / pharmacology
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Dopamine Antagonists / pharmacology
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Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials / drug effects
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Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials / physiology
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Fear / drug effects
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Fear / physiology
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GABA Antagonists / pharmacology
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Interneurons / drug effects
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Interneurons / metabolism*
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Learning / drug effects
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Learning / physiology*
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Long-Term Potentiation / drug effects
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Long-Term Potentiation / physiology*
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Male
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Mice
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Mice, Inbred C57BL
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Neural Inhibition / drug effects
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Neural Inhibition / physiology*
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Neural Pathways / cytology
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Neural Pathways / drug effects
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Neural Pathways / metabolism
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Organ Culture Techniques
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Receptors, Dopamine / drug effects
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Receptors, Dopamine / metabolism
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Synaptic Transmission / drug effects
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Synaptic Transmission / physiology
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gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / metabolism
Substances
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Dopamine Agonists
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Dopamine Antagonists
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GABA Antagonists
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Receptors, Dopamine
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gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
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Dopamine