Estrous cycle stage gates sex differences in prefrontal muscarinic control of fear memory formation

Beyond the blur: Scopolamine's utility and limits in modeling cognitive disorders across sexes - Narrative review

Scopolamine, widely regarded as the gold standard in preclinical studies of memory impairments, acts as a non-selective antagonist of central and peripheral muscarinic receptors. While its application in modeling dementia primarily involves antagonism at the M1 receptor, its non-selective peripheral actions may introduce adverse effects that influence behavioral test outcomes. This review analyzes preclinical findings to consolidate knowledge on scopolamine's use and elucidate potential mechanisms responsible for its amnestic effects. We focused on recognition, spatial, and emotional memory processes, alongside executive functions such as attention, cognitive flexibility, and working memory. The cognitive effects of scopolamine are highly dose-dependent, influenced by factors such as species, age, and sex of subjects. Notably, scopolamine rapidly induces observable memory impairments across species, from fish to rodents and primates, often with deficits that can persist for days. However, the compound's broad action on muscarinic receptors and its peripheral side effects, including pupil dilation and reduced salivation, complicates result interpretation, particularly in tasks requiring visual discrimination or food intake. The review also highlights scopolamine's translational value in modeling dementia and Alzheimer's disease, emphasizing the importance of considering individual factors and task-specific designs. Despite its widespread use, scopolamine's limited specificity for cholinergic dysfunction and inability to fully mimic the complex pathophysiology of cognitive disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease point to the need for complementary models. This review aims to guide researchers in using scopolamine for modeling cognitive impairments, ensuring attention to factors impacting experimental outcomes.

Medial prefrontal cortex to nucleus reuniens circuit is critical for performance in an operant delayed nonmatch to position task

Working memory refers to the temporary retention of a small amount of information used in the execution of a cognitive task. The prefrontal cortex and its connections with thalamic subregions are thought to mediate specific aspects of working memory, including engaging with the hippocampus to mediate memory retrieval. We used an operant delayed-non match to position task, which does not require the hippocampus, to determine roles of the rodent medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), the nucleus reuniens thalamic region (RE), and their connection. We found that transient inactivation of the mPFC and RE using the GABA-A agonist muscimol led to a delay-independent reduction in behavioral performance in the delayed non-match to position paradigm. We used a chemogenetic approach to determine the directionality of the necessary circuitry for behavioral performance reliant on working memory. Specifically, when we targeted mPFC neurons that project to the RE (mPFC-RE) we found a delay-independent reduction in the delayed non-match to position task, but not when we targeted RE neurons that project to the mPFC (RE-mPFC). Our results suggest a broader role for the mPFC-RE circuit in mediating working memory beyond the connection with the hippocampus.

Post-conditioning sleep deprivation facilitates delay and trace fear memory extinction

Trace and delay auditory fear conditioning involve different memory association strategies based on working memory involvement; however, their differences in long-term processing through sleep and extinction training remain unclear. While females often exhibit more persistent fear, complicating psychiatric treatment, most studies have primarily focused on how sleep affects initial recall in male mice. We investigated the three-way interaction between tests (trace vs. delay), sleep states, and sex during initial recall, extinction, and post-extinction remote recall. A six-hour post-conditioning sleep deprivation (SD) did not affect freezing behavior during the following day's extinction training of delay fear memory. However, during post-extinction remote recall of delay fear memory, SD prevented spontaneous recovery in males and reduced persistent freezing in females. In contrast, SD rapidly facilitated extinction of trace fear memory. In summary, SD enhances extinction both in the short-term and long-term, depending on the conditioning protocol. These findings highlight the importance of long-term assessments to explore interactions among emotional memory, sleep, and sex differences, with implications for individualized mechanisms underlying post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its treatments.

On the basis of sex and sleep: the influence of the estrous cycle and sex on sleep-wake behavior

The recurrent hormonal fluctuations within reproductive cycles impact sleep-wake behavior in women and in rats and mice used in preclinical models of sleep research. Strides have been made in sleep-related clinical trials to include equal numbers of women; however, the inclusion of female rodents in neuroscience and sleep research is lacking. Female animals are commonly omitted from studies over concerns of the effect of estrus cycle hormones on measured outcomes. This review highlights the estrous cycle's broad effects on sleep-wake behavior: from changes in sleep macroarchitecture to regionally specific alterations in neural oscillations. These changes are largely driven by cycle-dependent ovarian hormonal fluctuations occurring during proestrus and estrus that modulate neural circuits regulating sleep-wake behavior. Removal of estrous cycle influence by ovariectomy ablates characteristic sleep changes. Further, sex differences in sleep are present between gonadally intact females and males. Removal of reproductive hormones via gonadectomy in both sexes mitigates some, but not all sex differences. We examine the extent to which reproductive hormones and sex chromosomes contribute to sex differences in sleep-wake behavior. Finally, this review addresses the limitations in our understanding of the estrous cycle's impact on sleep-wake behavior, gaps in female sleep research that are well studied in males, and the implications that ignoring the estrous cycle has on studies of sleep-related processes.

Emotional vocalizations alter behaviors and neurochemical release into the amygdala

The basolateral amygdala (BLA), a brain center of emotional expression, contributes to acoustic communication by first interpreting the meaning of social sounds in the context of the listener's internal state, then organizing the appropriate behavioral responses. We propose that modulatory neurochemicals such as acetylcholine (ACh) and dopamine (DA) provide internal-state signals to the BLA while an animal listens to social vocalizations. We tested this in a vocal playback experiment utilizing highly affective vocal sequences associated with either mating or restraint, then sampled and analyzed fluids within the BLA for a broad range of neurochemicals and observed behavioral responses of adult male and female mice. In male mice, playback of restraint vocalizations increased ACh release and usually decreased DA release, while playback of mating sequences evoked the opposite neurochemical release patterns. In non-estrus female mice, patterns of ACh and DA release with mating playback were similar to males. Estrus females, however, showed increased ACh, associated with vigilance, as well as increased DA, associated with reward-seeking. Experimental groups that showed increased ACh release also showed the largest increases in an aversive behavior. These neurochemical release patterns and several behavioral responses depended on a single prior experience with the mating and restraint behaviors. Our results support a model in which ACh and DA provide contextual information to sound analyzing BLA neurons that modulate their output to downstream brain regions controlling behavioral responses to social vocalizations.

Cognitive-Enhancing Effects of Acetylcholine Receptor Agonists in Group-Housed Cynomolgus Monkeys Who Drink Ethanol

The cognitive impairments that are often observed in patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) partially contribute to the extremely low rates of treatment initiation and adherence. Brain acetylcholine receptors (AChR) mediate and modulate cognitive and reward-related behavior, and their distribution can be altered by long-term heavy drinking. Therefore, AChRs are promising pharmacotherapeutic targets for treating the cognitive symptoms of AUD. In the present study, the procognitive efficacy of two AChR agonists, xanomeline and varenicline, were evaluated in group-housed monkeys who self-administered ethanol for more than 1 year. The muscarinic AChR antagonist scopolamine was used to disrupt performance of a serial stimulus discrimination and reversal (SDR) task designed to probe cognitive flexibility, defined as the ability to modify a previously learned behavior in response to a change in reinforcement contingencies. The ability of xanomeline and varenicline to remediate the disruptive effects of scopolamine was compared between socially dominant and subordinate monkeys, with lighter and heavier drinking histories, respectively. We hypothesized that subordinate monkeys would be more sensitive to all three drugs. Scopolamine dose-dependently impaired performance on the serial SDR task in all monkeys at doses lower than those that produced nonspecific impairments (e.g., sedation); its potency did not differ between dominant and subordinate monkeys. However, both AChR agonists were effective in remediating the scopolamine-induced deficit in subordinate monkeys but not in dominant monkeys. These findings suggest xanomeline and varenicline may be effective for enhancing cognitive flexibility in individuals with a history of heavy drinking. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Procognitive effects of two acetylcholine (ACh) receptor agonists were assessed in group-housed monkeys who had several years' experience drinking ethanol. The muscarinic ACh receptor agonist xanomeline and the nicotinic ACh receptor agonist varenicline reversed a cognitive deficit induced by the muscarinic ACh receptor antagonist scopolamine. However, this effect was observed only in lower-ranking (subordinate) monkeys and not higher-ranking (dominant monkeys). Results suggest that ACh agonists may effectively remediate alcohol-induced cognitive deficits in a subpopulation of those with alcohol use disorder.

Temporal association activates projections from the perirhinal cortex and ventral CA1 to the prelimbic cortex and from the prelimbic cortex to the basolateral amygdala

In trace fear conditioning, the prelimbic cortex exhibits persistent activity during the interval between the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli, which maintains a conditioned stimulus representation. Regions cooperating for this function or encoding the conditioned stimulus before the interval could send inputs to the prelimbic cortex, supporting learning. The basolateral amygdala has conditioned stimulus- and unconditioned stimulus-responsive neurons, convergently activated. The prelimbic cortex could directly project to the basolateral amygdala to associate the transient memory of the conditioned stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus. We investigated the neuronal circuit supporting temporal associations using contextual fear conditioning with a 5-s interval, in which 5 s separates the contextual conditioned stimulus from the unconditioned stimulus. Injecting retrobeads, we quantified c-Fos in prelimbic cortex- or basolateral amygdala-projecting neurons from 9 regions after contextual fear conditioning with a 5-s interval or contextual fear conditioning, in which the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli overlap. The contextual fear conditioning with a 5-s interval activated ventral CA1 and perirhinal cortex neurons projecting to the prelimbic cortex and prelimbic cortex neurons projecting to basolateral amygdala. Both fear conditioning activated ventral CA1 and lateral entorhinal cortex neurons projecting to basolateral amygdala and basolateral amygdala neurons projecting to prelimbic cortex. The perirhinal cortex → prelimbic cortex and ventral CA1 → prelimbic cortex connections are the first identified prelimbic cortex afferent projections participating in temporal associations. These results help to understand time-linked memories, a process required in episodic and working memories.

Sex-dependent differences in animal cognition

The differences in cognitive processes driven by biological sex are the issues that have gotten growing attention recently. Considering the increasing population suffering from various cognitive impairments and the development of therapeutic strategies, it is essential that we recognize the mechanisms responsible for discrepancies observed in male and female learning and memory functions. In this review, we discuss recent reports from preclinical studies on rodents regarding selected cognitive domains to explore the state of knowledge on sex-dependent differences and point to challenges encountered during such research. We focus on spatial, recognition, and emotional memory, as well as on executive functions, such as attention, cognitive flexibility, and working memory. This review will help to acknowledge sex-related differences in cognition and indicate some fields that lack sufficient data.

Impaired muscarinic modulation of the rat prelimbic cortex in neuropathic pain is sexually dimorphic and associated with cold allodynia

Cholinergic modulation of the brain cortex is critical for cognitive processes, and altered cholinergic modulation of the prefrontal cortex is emerging as an important mechanism of neuropathic pain. Sex differences in pain prevalence and perception are well known, yet the precise nature of the mechanisms responsible for sexual dimorphism in chronic neuropathic pain are poorly understood. Here we investigated potential sex differences in cholinergic modulation of layer five commissural pyramidal neurons of the rat prelimbic cortex in control conditions and in the SNI model of neuropathic pain. We discovered that cholinergic modulation is stronger in cells from male compared with female rats, and that in neuropathic pain rats, cholinergic excitation of pyramidal neurons was more severely impaired in males than in females. Finally, we found that selective pharmacological blockade of the muscarinic M1 subunit in the prefrontal cortex induces cold sensitivity (but not mechanical allodynia) in naïve animals of both sexes.

ChAT::Cre transgenic rats show sex-dependent altered fear behaviors, ultrasonic vocalizations and cholinergic marker expression

The cholinergic system is a critical regulator of Pavlovian fear learning and extinction. As such, we have begun investigating the cholinergic system's involvement in individual differences in cued fear extinction using a transgenic ChAT::Cre rat model. The current study extends behavioral phenotyping of a transgenic ChAT::Cre rat line by examining both freezing behavior and ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) during a Pavlovian cued fear learning and extinction paradigm. Freezing, 22 kHz USVs, and 50 kHz USVs were compared between male and female transgenic ChAT::Cre+ rats and their wildtype (Cre-) littermates during fear learning, contextual and cue-conditioned fear recall, cued fear extinction, and generalization to a novel tone. During contextual and cued fear recall ChAT::Cre+ rats froze slightly more than their Cre- littermates, and displayed significant sex differences in contextual and cue-conditioned freezing, 22 kHz USVs, and 50 kHz USVs. Females showed more freezing than males in fear recall trials, but fewer 22 kHz distress calls during fear learning and recall. Females also produced more 50 kHz USVs during exposure to the testing chambers prior to tone (or shock) presentation compared with males, but this effect was blunted in ChAT::Cre+ females. Corroborating previous studies, ChAT::Cre+ transgenic rats overexpressed vesicular acetylcholine transporter immunolabeling in basal forebrain, striatum, basolateral amygdala, and hippocampus, but had similar levels of acetylcholinesterase and numbers of ChAT+ neurons as Cre- rats. This study suggests that variance in behavior between ChAT::Cre+ and wildtype rats is sex dependent and advances theories that distinct neural circuits and processes regulate sexually divergent fear responses.

Sex differences in fear responses: Neural circuits

Women have increased vulnerability to PTSD and anxiety disorders compared to men. Understanding the neurobiological underpinnings of these disorders is critical for identifying risk factors and developing appropriate sex-specific interventions. Despite the clear clinical relevance of an examination of sex differences in fear responses, the vast majority of pre-clinical research on fear learning and memory formation has exclusively used male animals. This review highlights sex differences in context and cued fear conditioning, fear extinction and fear generalization with a focus on the neural circuits underlying these behaviors in rodents. There are mixed reports of behavioral sex differences in context and cued fear conditioning paradigms, which can depend upon the behavioral indices of fear. However, there is greater evidence of differential activation of the hippocampus, amygdalar nuclei and the prefrontal cortical regions in male and female rodents during context and cued fear conditioning. The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), a sexually dimorphic structure, is of particular interest as it differentially contributes to fear responses in males and females. In addition, while the influence of the estrous cycle on different phases of fear conditioning is delineated, the clearest modulatory effect of estrogen is on fear extinction processes. Examining the variability in neural responses and behavior in both sexes should increase our understanding of how that variability contributes to the neurobiology of affective disorders. This article is part of the Special Issue on 'Fear, anxiety and PTSD'.

Sex differences in contextual pattern separation, neurogenesis, and functional connectivity within the limbic system

Background

Females are more likely to present with anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared to males, which are associated with disrupted hippocampal integrity. Sex differences in the structure and function of hippocampus exist. Here, we examined sex differences in contextual pattern separation, functional connectivity, and activation of new neurons during fear memory.

Methods

Two-month-old male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were injected with the DNA synthesis markers, iododeoxyuridine (IdU) and chlorodeoxyuridine (CldU) 3 weeks and 4 weeks before perfusion, respectively. One week after CldU injection, the rats underwent a context discrimination task in which rats were placed in context A (shock) and context A’ (no shock) every day for 12 days. On the test day, rats were placed in the shock context (context A) to measure fear memory and expression of zif268, an immediate early gene across 16 different limbic and reward regions. Repeated-measures or factorial analysis of variance was conducted on our variables of interest. Pearson product-moment calculations and principal component analyses on zif268 expression across regions were also performed.

Results

We found that females, but not males, showed contextual discrimination during the last days of training. On the test day, both sexes displayed similar levels of freezing, indicating equivalent fear memory for context A. Despite similar fear memory, males showed more positive correlations of zif268 activation between the limbic regions and the striatum, whereas females showed more negative correlations among these regions. Females showed greater activation of the frontal cortex, dorsal CA1, and 3-week-old adult-born dentate granular cells compared to males.

Conclusions

These results highlight the importance of studying sex differences in fear memory and the contribution of adult neurogenesis to the neuronal network and may contribute to differences in susceptibility to fear-related disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Highlights

Female rats, but not male rats, show faster discrimination during a contextual pattern separation task.

Three-week-old adult-born neurons are more active in response to fear memory in females compared to males.

Females had greater neural activation compared to males in the frontal cortex and dorsal CA1 region of the hippocampus in response to fear memory.

Males and females show distinct patterns in functional connectivity for fear memory across limbic regions.

Males have many positive correlations between activated new neurons of different ages between the dorsal and ventral hippocampus, while females show more correlations between activated new neurons and other limbic regions.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13293-022-00450-2.

Sex differences in the acute ethanol effects on object recognition memory: influence of estrous cycle

Effects of acute ethanol (EtOH) on memory depend on several factors, including type of behavioral task. Sex differences in EtOH effects have been reported in humans and animals, and recognition memory can be influenced by circulating sex hormones. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of sex and estrous cycle in the acute effects of EtOH on novel object recognition memory in rats. Male and female Wistar rats were part of one of the groups: control, 0.6-g/kg EtOH and 1.8-g/kg EtOH (administered intraperitoneally before the training session). The estrous cycle was evaluated by vaginal smear. The task was conducted in an open field arena. During training, animals were exposed to two identical objects, and test sessions were performed 1 h (short-term) and 24 h (long-term) later. One of the objects was changed in each test. Increased novel object exploration was shown by male and female controls in the short- and long-term tests, respectively. In the short-term test, females did not show preference for the novel object, and EtOH 1.8 g/kg impaired performance in males. In the long-term test, both sexes showed object discrimination, and 1.8-g/kg EtOH reduced preference for the new object in male rats. The phase of the cycle, the performance on proestrus was worse compared with other phases, and EtOH failed to impair performance mainly on estrous. In conclusion, while male rats displayed ethanol-induced recognition memory deficit, female rats were unaffected by EtOH impairing effects. In addition, the performance of female rats was influenced by the estrous cycle phases.

Ventral hippocampal shock encoding modulates the expression of trace cued fear

The hippocampus is crucial for associative fear learning when the anticipation of threat requires temporal or contextual binding of predictive stimuli as in trace and contextual fear conditioning. Compared with the dorsal hippocampus, far less is known about the contribution of the ventral hippocampus to fear learning. The ventral hippocampus, which is highly interconnected with defensive and emotional networks, has a prominent role in both innate and learned affective behaviors including anxiety, fear, and reward. Lesions or temporary inactivation of the ventral hippocampus impair both cued and contextual fear learning, but whether the ventral hippocampal role in learning is driven by affective processing, associative encoding, or both is not clear. Here, we used trace fear conditioning in mixed sex cohorts to assess the contribution of shock-encoding to the acquisition of cued and contextual fear memories. Trace conditioning requires subjects to associate an auditory conditional stimulus (CS) with a shock unconditional stimulus (UCS) that are separated in time by a 20-s trace interval. We first recorded neuronal activity in the ventral hippocampus during trace fear conditioning and found that ventral CA1 predominantly encoded the shock reinforcer. Potentiated firing to the CS was evident at testing, but no encoding of the trace interval was observed. We then tested the necessity of shock encoding for conditional fear acquisition by optogenetically silencing ventral hippocampal activity during the UCS on each trial of training. Contrary to our predictions, preventing hippocampal shock-evoked firing did not impair associative fear. Instead, it led to a more prolonged expression of CS freezing across test trials, an effect observed in males, but not females. Contextual fear learning was largely intact, although a subset of animals in each sex were differentially affected by shock-silencing. Taken together, the results show that shock encoding in the ventral hippocampus modulates the expression of learned fear in a sex-specific manner.

Sexual dimorphism in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, medial preoptic area and suprachiasmatic nucleus in male and female tree shrews

Sex differences in behaviour partly arise from the sexual dimorphism of brain anatomy between males and females. However, the sexual dimorphism of the tree shrew brain is unclear. In the present study, we examined the detailed distribution of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-immunoreactive (VIP-ir) neurons and fibres in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and VIP-ir fibres in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) of male and female tree shrews. The overall volume of the SCN in male tree shrews was comparable with that in females. However, males showed a significantly higher density of VIP-ir cells and fibres in the SCN than females. The shape of the VIP-stained area in coronal sections was arched, elongated or oval in the lateral division (STL) and the anterior part of the medial division (STMA) of the BST and oval or round in the posterior part of the medial division of the BST (STMP). The volume of the VIP-stained BST in male tree shrews was similar to that in females. The overall distribution of VIP-ir fibres was similar between the sexes throughout the BST except within the STMA, where darkly stained fibres were observed in males, whereas lightly stained fibres were observed in females. Furthermore, male tree shrews showed a significantly higher intensity of Nissl staining in the medial preoptic area (MPA) and the ventral part of the medial division of the BST than females. These findings are the first to reveal sexual dimorphism in the SCN, BST and MPA of the tree shrew brain, providing neuroanatomical evidence of sexual dimorphism in these regions related to their roles in sex differences in physiology and behaviour.

Age-Related Memory Impairment and Sex-Specific Alterations in Phosphorylation of the Rpt6 Proteasome Subunit and Polyubiquitination in the Basolateral Amygdala and Medial Prefrontal Cortex

Aging is marked by an accumulation of damaged and modified brain proteins, and the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) is important for cellular protein degradation. Recent work has established a critical role for the UPS in memory and synaptic plasticity, but the role of the UPS in age-related cognitive decline remains poorly understood. We trained young, middle-aged, and aged male and female rats using trace fear conditioning (TFC) to investigate the effects of age and sex on memory. We then measured markers of UPS-related protein degradation (phosphorylation of the Rpt6 proteasome regulatory subunit and K48-linked polyubiquitination) using western blots. We found that aged males, but not aged females, showed behavioral deficits at memory retrieval. Aged males also displayed reduced phosphorylation of the Rpt6 proteasome subunit and accumulation of K48 in the basolateral amygdala, while aged females displayed a similar pattern in the medial prefrontal cortex. These findings suggest that markers of UPS function are differentially affected by age and sex in a brain region-dependent manner. Together these results provide an important step toward understanding the UPS and circuit-level differences in aging males and females.

Noradrenergic enhancement of object recognition and object location memory in mice

Extensive evidence indicates that noradrenergic activation is essentially involved in mediating the enhancing effects of emotional arousal on memory consolidation. Our current understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the memory-modulatory effects of the noradrenergic system is primarily based on pharmacological studies in rats, employing targeted administration of noradrenergic drugs into specific brain regions. However, the further delineation of the specific neural circuitry involved would benefit from experimental tools that are currently more readily available in mice. Previous studies have not, as yet, investigated the effect of noradrenergic enhancement of memory in mice, which show different cognitive abilities and higher endogenous arousal levels induced by a training experience compared to rats. In the present study, we investigated the effect of posttraining noradrenergic activation in male C57BL/6J mice on the consolidation of object recognition and object location memory. We found that the noradrenergic stimulant yohimbine (0.3 or 1.0 mg/kg) administered systemically immediately after an object training experience dose-dependently enhanced 24-h memory of both the identity and location of the object. Thus, these findings indicate that noradrenergic activation also enhances memory consolidation processes in mice, paving the way for a systematic investigation of the neural circuitry underlying these emotional arousal effects on memory.LAY SUMMARY: The current study successfully validated the effect of noradrenergic activation on both object recognition and object location memory in mice. This study thereby provides a fundamental proof-of-principle for the investigation of the neural circuitry underlying noradrenergic and arousal effects on long-term memory in mice.

Comparison of cannabidiol to citalopram in targeting fear memory in female mice

Background

Cannabidiol (CBD) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are currently used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, these drugs are commonly studied after dosing just prior to extinction training, and there are gaps in our understanding of how they affect fear memory formation, their comparative effects on various types of memory, and of sexual dimorphisms in effects. Also, more studies involving female subjects are needed to balance the gender-inequality in the literature. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to directly compare the effects of CBD to citalopram in affecting the formation of auditory cued, contextual, and generalized fear memory, and to evaluate how extinction of these different memories was altered by pre-acquisition treatment in female mice. We also evaluated the impact of the estrous cycle on each of these.

Methods

Auditory-cued trace fear conditioning was conducted shortly after dosing female C57BL/6 mice, with either CBD or citalopram (10 mg/kg each), by pairing auditory tones with mild foot shocks. Auditory-cued, contextual, and generalized fear memory was assessed by measuring freezing responses, with an automated fear conditioning system, 24 h after conditioning. Each memory type was then evaluated every 24 h, over a 4-day period in total, to create an extinction profile. Freezing outcomes were statistically compared by ANOVA with Tukey HSD post hoc analysis, N = 12 mice per experimental group. Evaluation of sexual dimorphism was by comparison to historical data from male mice.

Results

Auditory cue-associated fear memory was not affected with CBD or citalopram; however, contextual memory was reduced with CBD by 11%, p < 0.05, but not citalopram, and generalized fear memory was reduced with CBD and citalopram, 20% and 22%, respectively, p < 0.05. Extinction learning was enhanced with CBD and citalopram, but, there was considerable memory-type variability between drug effects, with freezing levels reduced at the end of training by 9 to 17% for CBD, and 10 to 12% with citalopram. The estrous cycle did not affect any outcomes.

Conclusions

Both drugs are potent modifiers of fear memory formation; however, there is considerable divergence in their targeting of different memory types which, overall, could support the use of CBD as an alternative to SSRIs for treating PTSD in females, but not males. A limitation of the study was that it compared data from experiments done at different times to evaluate sexual dimorphism. Overall, this suggests that more research is necessary to guide any therapeutic approach involving CBD.

Sex, stress, and prefrontal cortex: influence of biological sex on stress-promoted cocaine seeking

Clinical reports suggest that females diagnosed with substance use disorder experience enhanced relapse vulnerability compared with males, particularly during stress. We previously demonstrated that a stressor (footshock) can potentiate cocaine seeking in male rats via glucocorticoid-dependent cannabinoid type-1 receptor (CB1R)-mediated actions in the prelimbic prefrontal cortex (PrL-PFC). Here, we investigated the influence of biological sex on stress-potentiated cocaine seeking. Despite comparable self-administration and extinction, females displayed a lower threshold for cocaine-primed reinstatement than males. Unlike males, footshock, tested across a range of intensities, failed to potentiate cocaine-primed reinstatement in females. However, restraint potentiated reinstatement in both sexes. While sex differences in stressor-induced plasma corticosterone (CORT) elevations and defensive behaviors were not observed, differences were evident in footshock-elicited ultrasonic vocalizations. CORT administration, at a dose which recapitulates stressor-induced plasma levels, reproduced stress-potentiated cocaine-primed reinstatement in both sexes. In females, CORT effects varied across the estrous cycle; CORT-potentiated reinstatement was only observed during diestrus and proestrus. As in males, CORT-potentiated cocaine seeking in females was localized to the PrL-PFC and both CORT- and restraint-potentiated cocaine seeking required PrL-PFC CB1R activation. In addition, ex vivo whole-cell electrophysiological recordings from female layer V PrL-PFC pyramidal neurons revealed CB1R-dependent CORT-induced suppression of inhibitory synaptic activity, as previously observed in males. These findings demonstrate that, while stress potentiates cocaine seeking via PrL-PFC CB1R in both sexes, sensitivity to cocaine priming injections is greater in females, CORT-potentiating effects vary with the estrous cycle, and whether reactivity to specific stressors may manifest as drug seeking depends on biological sex.

Decreased cued fear discrimination learning in female rats as a function of estrous phase

Relative to males, female rats can show enhanced contextual fear generalization (demonstrating a fear response in a safe or neutral context) dependent on estrogen receptor activation. The current experiment aimed to extend this finding to cued fear conditioning. Females in low-estrogen phases of the estrous cycle showed good discrimination, similar to males, between a conditional stimulus that predicted shock (CS+) and an equally familiar one that did not (CS−), while females in the proestrus (high estrogen) phase demonstrated similar levels of fear between the CS+ and CS−. These results demonstrate that cued fear generalization is similarly influenced by endogenous estrogens.

The Role of Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide (PACAP) Signaling in the Hippocampal Dentate Gyrus

Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP, ADCYAP1) dysregulation has been associated with multiple stress-related psychopathologies that may be related to altered hippocampal function. In coherence, PACAP- and PAC1 receptor (ADCYAP1R1)-null mice demonstrate changes in hippocampal-dependent behavioral responses, implicating the PACAPergic system function in this structure. Within the hippocampus, the dentate gyrus (DG) may play an important role in discerning the differences between similar contexts, and DG granule cells appear to both highly express PAC1 receptors and receive inputs from PACAP-expressing terminals. Here, we review the evidence from our laboratories and others that PACAP is an important regulator of activity within hippocampal circuits, particularly within the DG. These data are consistent with an increasing literature implicating PACAP circuits in stress-related pathologies such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and implicate the hippocampus, and in particular the DG, as a critical site in which PACAP dysregulation can alter stress-related behaviors.

Ventral Hippocampal Input to the Prelimbic Cortex Dissociates the Context from the Cue Association in Trace Fear Memory

The PFC, through its high degree of interconnectivity with cortical and subcortical brain areas, mediates cognitive and emotional processes in support of adaptive behaviors. This includes the formation of fear memories when the anticipation of threat demands learning about temporal or contextual cues, as in trace fear conditioning. In this variant of fear learning, the association of a cue and shock across an empty trace interval of several seconds requires sustained cue-elicited firing in the prelimbic cortex (PL). However, it is unknown how and when distinct PL afferents contribute to different associative components of memory. Among the prominent inputs to PL, the hippocampus shares with PL a role in both working memory and contextual processing. Here we tested the necessity of direct hippocampal input to the PL for the acquisition of trace-cued fear memory and the simultaneously acquired contextual fear association. Optogenetic silencing of ventral hippocampal (VH) terminals in the PL of adult male Long-Evans rats selectively during paired trials revealed that direct communication between the VH and PL during training is necessary for contextual fear memory, but not for trace-cued fear acquisition. The pattern of the contextual memory deficit and the disruption of local PL firing during optogenetic silencing of VH-PL suggest that the VH continuously updates the PL with the current contextual state of the animal, which, when disrupted during memory acquisition, is detrimental to the subsequent rapid retrieval of aversive contextual associations.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Learning to anticipate threat from available contextual and discrete cues is crucial for survival. The prelimbic cortex is required for forming fear memories when temporal or contextual complexity is involved, as in trace fear conditioning. However, the respective contribution of distinct prelimbic afferents to the temporal and contextual components of memory is not known. We report that direct input from the ventral hippocampus enables the formation of the contextual, but not trace-cued, fear memory necessary for the subsequent rapid expression of a fear response. This finding dissociates the contextual and working-memory contributions of prelimbic cortex to the formation of a fear memory and demonstrates the crucial role for hippocampal input in contextual fear learning.