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Fitzgerald JM, Webb EK, Davis K, Bennett M, Benjamin T, Pegau B, Sangha S. PTSD symptoms moderate predictors of psychophysiological arousal during fear inhibition: Evidence from a fear, reward, and neutral discrimination task. J Affect Disord 2025; 385:119401. [PMID: 40368148 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2025.119401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2025] [Revised: 05/09/2025] [Accepted: 05/11/2025] [Indexed: 05/16/2025]
Abstract
The ability to distinguish between threatening, rewarding, and neutral cues is adaptative and crucial for survival. However, individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often show poor knowledge of cue contingencies and heightened fear responses even in the presence of cues that signify safety, potentially due to atypical perceptions of neutral cues. We investigated whether perceiving neutral cues as more rewarding or threatening influences conditioned inhibition of fear and whether PTSD symptoms moderate this relationship. Trauma-exposed adults (N = 84; 64 % female; 76 % non-Hispanic white) completed a Fear, Reward, and Neutral Discrimination (FRND) Task involving geometric shapes paired with outcomes (Fear: white noise; Reward: monetary gain; Neutral: no outcome) and conditioned inhibition trials (Fear+Neutral and Reward+Neutral: no outcome). Skin conductance responses (SCR) quantified psychophysiological arousal, and participants rated the valence of each cue. PTSD symptoms were evaluated with the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5. Linear regressions examined PTSD severity as a moderator of the relationship between Reward vs. Neutral or Fear vs. Neutral valence difference and SCR during inhibition. Among individuals with less severe PTSD symptoms, stronger fear inhibition effects were observed when neutral cues were rated more similarly to reward cues (β = 0.12, p = .022); however, this relationship was not significant at average or higher PTSD severity. Our results emphasize that perceptions of neutral cues contribute to fear inhibition and may underlie PTSD-related deficits in safety learning. Future investigations on PTSD and fear inhibition should consider incorporating measures of reward-related processing to examine the overlap between rewarding and inhibitory qualities of safety signals.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - E Kate Webb
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Duke School of Medicine, Durham, NC, United States of America
| | - Kaley Davis
- Department of Psychology, Marquette University, United States of America
| | - Meghan Bennett
- Department of Psychology, Marquette University, United States of America
| | - Tristan Benjamin
- Department of Psychology, Marquette University, United States of America
| | - Boiana Pegau
- Department of Psychology, Marquette University, United States of America
| | - Susan Sangha
- Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine; Stark Neuroscience Research Institute, United States of America
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2
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Ly A, Hotchkiss H, Prévost ED, Pelletier JM, Deming MA, Murib L, Root DH. Assessing the role of BNST GABA neurons in backward conditioned suppression. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2025; 219:108058. [PMID: 40318802 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2025.108058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2024] [Revised: 04/11/2025] [Accepted: 04/26/2025] [Indexed: 05/07/2025]
Abstract
Conditioned suppression is a useful paradigm for measuring learned avoidance. In most conditioned suppression studies, forward conditioning is used where a cue predicts an aversive stimulus. However, backward conditioning, in which an aversive stimulus predicts a cue, provides unique insights into learned avoidance due to its influence on both conditioned excitation and inhibition. We trained mice to consume sucrose in context A, associated an aversive stimulus in context B to few or many forward or backwards paired cues (CS + ), and then tested for conditioned suppression in context A in response to the CS + . We found that few or many forward CS + and few backward CS + produced conditioned suppression, but many backwards cues did not. Administration of diazepam, a positive allosteric modulator of the GABAA receptor, prevented conditioned suppression to the backward CS + but not to the forward CS + . Furthermore, freezing behavior was observed in response to the forward CS + but not the backward CS+, and diazepam had no effect on freezing or locomotion. We next examined BNST GABA neurons for potential sensitivity to backwards cues and conditioned suppression. VGaT BNST signaling increased in response to sucrose licks during the backward CS + but not to licks outside the CS + and not to the backward CS + onset or offset. Using designer receptors, we found that BNST VGaT neuron activation, but not its inhibition, prevented backward conditioned suppression expression. We conclude that backward conditioned suppression is dependent on both positive allosteric modulation of GABA on GABAA receptors by diazepam and BNST GABA neurons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annie Ly
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, CO 80301, USA
| | - Hayden Hotchkiss
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, CO 80301, USA
| | - Emily D Prévost
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, CO 80301, USA
| | - Julianne M Pelletier
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, CO 80301, USA
| | - Melissa A Deming
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, CO 80301, USA
| | - Luma Murib
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, CO 80301, USA
| | - David H Root
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, CO 80301, USA.
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3
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Laing PAF, Vervliet B, Dunsmoor JE, Harrison BJ. Pavlovian safety learning: An integrative theoretical review. Psychon Bull Rev 2025; 32:176-202. [PMID: 39167292 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-024-02559-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/22/2024] [Indexed: 08/23/2024]
Abstract
Safety learning involves associating stimuli with the absence of threats, enabling the inhibition of fear and anxiety. Despite growing interest in psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience, safety learning lacks a formal consensus definition, leading to inconsistent methodologies and varied results. Conceptualized as a form of inhibitory learning (conditioned inhibition), safety learning can be understood through formal learning theories, such as the Rescorla-Wagner and Pearce-Hall models. This review aims to establish a principled conceptualization of 'Pavlovian safety learning', identifying cognitive mechanisms that generate safety and the boundary conditions that constrain it. Based on these observations, we define Pavlovian safety learning as an active associative process, where surprising threat-omission (safety prediction error) acts as a salient reinforcing event. Instead of producing merely neutral or nonaversive states, safety learning endows stimuli with active positive associations to 'safety'. The resulting stimulus-safety memories counteract the influence of fear memories, promoting fear regulation, positive affect, and relief. We critically analyze traditional criteria of conditioned inhibition for their relevance to safety and propose areas for future innovation. A principled concept of Pavlovian safety learning may reduce methodological inconsistencies, stimulate translational research, and facilitate a comprehensive understanding of an indispensable psychological construct.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick A F Laing
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA.
- Institute for Neuroscience, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA.
| | - Bram Vervliet
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Joseph E Dunsmoor
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
- Institute for Neuroscience, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
| | - Ben J Harrison
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia
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4
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Ly A, Hotchkiss H, Prévost ED, Pelletier J, Deming M, Murib L, Root DH. Assessing the role of BNST GABA neurons in backward conditioned suppression. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2025:2025.01.01.631006. [PMID: 39803568 PMCID: PMC11722385 DOI: 10.1101/2025.01.01.631006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2025]
Abstract
Conditioned suppression is a useful paradigm for measuring learned avoidance. In most conditioned suppression studies, forward conditioning is used where a cue predicts an aversive stimulus. However, backward conditioning, in which an aversive stimulus predicts a cue, provides unique insights into learned avoidance due to its influence on both conditioned excitation and inhibition. We trained mice to consume sucrose in context A, associated an aversive stimulus in context B to few or many forward or backwards paired cues (CS+), and then tested for conditioned suppression in context A in response to the CS+. We found that few or many forward CS+ and few backward CS+ produced conditioned suppression, but many backwards cues did not. Administration of diazepam, a positive allosteric modulator of the GABA-A receptor, prevented conditioned suppression to the backward CS+ but not to the forward CS+. Furthermore, freezing behavior was observed in response to the forward CS+ but not the backward CS+, and diazepam had no effect on freezing or locomotion. We next examined BNST GABA neurons for potential sensitivity to backwards cues and conditioned suppression. VGaT BNST signaling increased in response to sucrose licks during the backward CS+ but not to licks outside the CS+ and not to the backward CS+ onset or offset. Using designer receptors, we found that BNST VGaT neuron activation, but not its inhibition, prevented backward conditioned suppression expression. We conclude that backward conditioned suppression is dependent on both positive allosteric modulation of GABA on GABA-A receptors by diazepam and BNST GABA neurons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annie Ly
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, CO 80301
| | - Hayden Hotchkiss
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, CO 80301
| | - Emily D. Prévost
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, CO 80301
| | - Julianne Pelletier
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, CO 80301
| | - Melissa Deming
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, CO 80301
| | - Luma Murib
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, CO 80301
| | - David H. Root
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, CO 80301
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Morin EL, Siebert ER, Howell BR, Higgins M, Jovanovic T, Kazama AM, Sanchez MM. Effects of early maternal care on anxiety and threat learning in adolescent nonhuman primates. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2025; 71:101480. [PMID: 39642805 PMCID: PMC11665541 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101480] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2024] [Revised: 09/30/2024] [Accepted: 11/19/2024] [Indexed: 12/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Early life adverse experiences, including childhood maltreatment, are major risk factors for psychopathology, including anxiety disorders with dysregulated fear responses. Consistent with human studies, maltreatment by the mother (MALT) leads to increased emotional reactivity in rhesus monkey infants. Whether this persists and results in altered emotion regulation, due to enhanced fear learning or impaired utilization of safety signals as shown in human stress-related disorders, is unclear. Here we used a rhesus model of MALT to examine long-term effects on state anxiety and threat/safety learning in 25 adolescents, using a fear conditioning paradigm (AX+/BX-) with acoustic startle amplitude as the peripheral measure. The AX+/BX- paradigm measures baseline startle, fear-potentiated startle, threat/safety cue discrimination, startle attenuation by safety signals, and extinction. Baseline startle was higher in MALT animals, suggesting elevated state anxiety. No differences in threat learning, or threat/safety discrimination were detected. However, MALT animals showed generalized blunted responses to the conditioned threat cue, regardless of the safety cue presence in the transfer test, and took longer to extinguish spontaneously recovered threat. These findings suggest adverse caregiving experiences have long-term impacts on adolescent emotion regulation, including elevated state anxiety and blunted fear conditioning responses, consistent with reports in children with maltreatment exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elyse L Morin
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States; Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Erin R Siebert
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Brittany R Howell
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States; Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States; Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, Roanoke, VA, United States; Department of Human Development and Family Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States
| | - Melinda Higgins
- School of Nursing, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Tanja Jovanovic
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Andrew M Kazama
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States; Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Mar M Sanchez
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States; Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States; Center for Translational Social Neuroscience, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States.
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6
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Scheuermann D, Melzig CA, Benke C. Leveraging occasional reinforced extinction via mental imagery of the unconditioned stimulus to optimize extinction learning. Behav Res Ther 2024; 183:104647. [PMID: 39423456 DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2024.104647] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2024] [Revised: 09/13/2024] [Accepted: 10/14/2024] [Indexed: 10/21/2024]
Abstract
Occasionally presenting the unconditioned stimulus (US) during extinction training (occasional reinforced extinction, ORE) either unpaired or paired with the conditioned stimulus (CS) provides initial evidence for a less pronounced return of fear. However, translating this approach into clinical practice is challenging due to ethical and practical concerns of exposing patients to the original USs. The present study investigated extinction of fear responses in a novel approach employing ORE using vivid fear imagery of the US instead of actually exposing to it. Three experimental groups underwent differential fear conditioning. Subsequently, participants either received a non-reinforced (standard extinction, N = 25), occasional paired (N = 26), or occasional unpaired (N = 25) reinforced extinction training, followed by assessments for spontaneous recovery, reinstatement, and reacquisition of fear responses. Response patterns during spontaneous recovery, reinstatement and reacquisition showed no benefit from either paired or unpaired imaginative ORE. The current findings suggest that incorporating fear imagery of the US in ORE so far does not result in reducing the return of fear. Further investigation is needed to determine whether imaginal ORE with adjustments could still be a readily applicable strategy for translating the ORE approach into clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dorothee Scheuermann
- Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Experimental Psychopathology and Psychotherapy, Philipps University of Marburg, Gutenbergstraße 18, 35032, Marburg, Germany.
| | - Christiane A Melzig
- Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Experimental Psychopathology and Psychotherapy, Philipps University of Marburg, Gutenbergstraße 18, 35032, Marburg, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior (CMBB), Philipps University Marburg and Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany
| | - Christoph Benke
- Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Experimental Psychopathology and Psychotherapy, Philipps University of Marburg, Gutenbergstraße 18, 35032, Marburg, Germany
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Mombelli E, Osypenko D, Palchaudhuri S, Sourmpis C, Brea J, Kochubey O, Schneggenburger R. Auditory stimuli suppress contextual fear responses in safety learning independent of a possible safety meaning. Front Behav Neurosci 2024; 18:1415047. [PMID: 39450346 PMCID: PMC11499156 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2024.1415047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2024] [Accepted: 09/04/2024] [Indexed: 10/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Safety learning allows the identification of non-threatening situations, a learning process instrumental for survival and psychic health. In contrast to fear learning, in which a sensory cue (conditioned stimulus, CS) is temporally linked to a mildly aversive stimulus (US), safety learning is studied by presenting the CS and US in an explicitly unpaired fashion. This leads to conditioned inhibition of fear responses, in which sensory cues can acquire a safety meaning (CS-). In one variant of safety learning, an auditory CS- was shown to reduce contextual fear responses during recall, as measured by freezing of mice. Here, we performed control experiments to test whether auditory stimuli might interfere with freezing by mechanisms other than safety learning, a phenomenon also called external inhibition. Surprisingly, when auditory stimulation was omitted during training (US-only controls), such stimuli still significantly suppressed contextual freezing during recall, indistinguishable from the reduction of freezing after regular safety training. The degree of this external inhibition was positively correlated with the levels of contextual freezing preceding the auditory stimulation. Correspondingly, in fear learning protocols which employ a new context during recall and therefore induce lower contextual freezing, auditory stimuli did not induce significant external inhibition. These experiments show that in safety learning protocols that employ contextual freezing, the freezing reduction caused by auditory stimuli during recall is dominated by external inhibition, rather than by learned safety. Thus, in safety learning experiments extensive controls should be performed to rule out possible intrinsic effects of sensory cues on freezing behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Mombelli
- Laboratory of Synaptic Mechanisms, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Science, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Denys Osypenko
- Laboratory of Synaptic Mechanisms, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Science, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Shriya Palchaudhuri
- Laboratory of Synaptic Mechanisms, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Science, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Christos Sourmpis
- Laboratory of Computational Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Science and School of Computer and Communication Science, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
- Laboratory of Sensory Processing, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Science, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Johanni Brea
- Laboratory of Computational Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Science and School of Computer and Communication Science, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Olexiy Kochubey
- Laboratory of Synaptic Mechanisms, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Science, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Ralf Schneggenburger
- Laboratory of Synaptic Mechanisms, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Science, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
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Kribakaran S, DeCross SN, Odriozola P, McLaughlin KA, Gee DG. Developmental Differences in a Hippocampal-Cingulate Pathway Involved in Learned Safety Following Interpersonal Trauma Exposure. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2024:S0890-8567(24)01932-4. [PMID: 39368629 PMCID: PMC11965437 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2024.07.928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/26/2023] [Revised: 07/22/2024] [Accepted: 09/26/2024] [Indexed: 10/07/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Nearly 65% of youth experience trauma, and up to one-third of youth with trauma exposure face profound mental health sequelae. There remains a need to elucidate factors that contribute to psychopathology following trauma exposure, and to optimize interventions for youth who do not benefit sufficiently from existing treatments. Here, we probe safety signal learning (SSL), which is a mechanism of fear reduction that leverages learned safety to inhibit fear in the presence of threat-associated stimuli and has been shown to attenuate fear via a hippocampal-cingulate--specifically, a dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC)--pathway. METHOD The present study used behavioral and task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging data to examine age-related associations between interpersonal trauma exposure and the behavioral and neural correlates (ie, activation and functional connectivity) of SSL in a group of 102 youth (aged 9-19 years; 46 female, 56 male) with (n = 52) and without (n = 50) interpersonal trauma exposure. Primary analyses examined anterior hippocampal activation and anterior hippocampus-dACC functional connectivity. Exploratory analyses examined centromedial amygdala (CMA) and laterobasal amygdala (LBA) activation and anterior hippocampal, CMA, and LBA functional connectivity with additional anterior cingulate subregions (ie, subgenual anterior cingulate cortex [sgACC] and rostral anterior cingulate cortex [rosACC]). RESULTS Both youth with and without interpersonal trauma exposure successfully learned conditioned safety, which was determined by using self-report of contingency awareness. Youth with interpersonal trauma exposure (relative to youth in the comparison group) exhibited age-specific patterns of lower hippocampal activation (F2,96 = 3.75, pFDR = .049, ηp2 = 0.072), and, in exploratory analyses, showed heightened centromedial amygdala activation (F1,96 = 5.37, pFDR = .046, ηp2 = 0.053) and an age-related decrease in hippocampal-sgACC functional connectivity during SSL (F1,94 = 10.68, pFDR = .015, ηp2 = 0.102). We also show that hippocampal-sgACC functional connectivity mediated the association between interpersonal trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in an age-specific manner in the overall sample. CONCLUSION Together, these findings suggest that although age- and trauma-specific differences in the neural correlates of SSL may relate to the development of psychopathology, youth with interpersonal trauma exposure demonstrate successful learning of conditioned safety over time. DIVERSITY & INCLUSION STATEMENT We worked to ensure that the study questionnaires were prepared in an inclusive way. We worked to ensure sex and gender balance in the recruitment of human participants. We worked to ensure race, ethnic, and/or other types of diversity in the recruitment of human participants. While citing references scientifically relevant for this work, we also actively worked to promote sex and gender balance in our reference list. While citing references scientifically relevant for this work, we also actively worked to promote inclusion of historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science in our reference list. We actively worked to promote sex and gender balance in our author group. We actively worked to promote inclusion of historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science in our author group. One or more of the authors of this paper self-identifies as a member of one or more historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science. One or more of the authors of this paper received support from a program designed to increase minority representation in science.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sahana Kribakaran
- Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut; Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
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Greaves MD, Felmingham KL, Ney LJ, Nicholson EL, Li S, Vervliet B, Harrison BJ, Graham BM, Steward T. Using electrodermal activity to estimate fear learning differences in anxiety: A multiverse analysis. Behav Res Ther 2024; 181:104598. [PMID: 39142133 DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2024.104598] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2023] [Revised: 06/10/2024] [Accepted: 06/17/2024] [Indexed: 08/16/2024]
Abstract
Meta-analyses indicate differences in Pavlovian fear responses between anxious and non-anxious individuals using electrodermal activity (EDA). Recent research, however, has cast doubt on whether these effects are robust to different analytic choices. Using the multiverse approach conceived by Steegen et al. (2016), we surveyed analytic choices typically implemented in clinical fear conditioning research by conducting 1240 analyses reflecting different choice permutations. Only 1.45% of our analyses produced theoretically congruent statistically significant effects, and the strength and direction of the estimated effects varied substantially across EDA processing methods. We conclude that EDA-estimated fear learning differences are vulnerable to researcher degrees of freedom and make recommendations regarding which analytical choices should be approached with a high degree of caution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew D Greaves
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Kim L Felmingham
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
| | - Luke J Ney
- School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
| | - Emma L Nicholson
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Stella Li
- School of Psychology, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Bram Vervliet
- Laboratory of Biological Psychology, KU Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Ben J Harrison
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Bronwyn M Graham
- School of Psychology, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Trevor Steward
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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Petranu K, Webb EK, Tomas CW, Harb F, Torres L, deRoon-Cassini TA, Larson CL. Investigating the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis as a predictor of posttraumatic stress disorder in Black Americans and the moderating effects of racial discrimination. Transl Psychiatry 2024; 14:337. [PMID: 39169008 PMCID: PMC11339439 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-024-03050-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2023] [Revised: 07/17/2024] [Accepted: 08/05/2024] [Indexed: 08/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Altered functioning of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) may play a critical role in the etiology of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Chronic stressors such as racial discrimination and lifetime trauma are associated with an increased risk for PTSD, but it is unknown whether they influence the relationship between BNST functioning and PTSD. We investigated acute post-trauma BNST resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) as a predictor of future PTSD symptoms in Black trauma survivors. We also examined whether racial discrimination and lifetime trauma moderated the relationship between BNST rsFC and PTSD symptoms. Black adults (N = 95; 54.7% female; mean age = 34.04) were recruited from an emergency department after experiencing a traumatic injury (72.6% were motor vehicle accidents). Two-weeks post-injury, participants underwent a resting-state fMRI scan and completed questionnaires evaluating their PTSD symptoms as well as lifetime exposure to racial discrimination and trauma. Six-months post-injury, PTSD symptoms were reassessed. Whole brain seed-to-voxel analyses were conducted to examine BNST rsFC patterns. Greater rsFC between the BNST and the posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, left angular gyrus, and hippocampus prospectively predicted six-month PTSD symptoms after adjusting for sex, age, education, and baseline PTSD symptoms. Acute BNST rsFC was a stronger predictor of PTSD symptoms in individuals who experienced more racial discrimination and lifetime trauma. Thus, in the acute aftermath of a traumatic event, the BNST could be a key biomarker of risk for PTSD in Black Americans, particularly for individuals with a greater history of racial discrimination or previous trauma exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin Petranu
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
- Advocate Aurora Research Institute, Aurora Sinai, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
| | - E Kate Webb
- Division of Depression and Anxiety Disorders, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Carissa W Tomas
- Institute for Health and Equity, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Farah Harb
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Lucas Torres
- Department of Psychology, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Terri A deRoon-Cassini
- Division of Trauma & Critical Care, Department of Surgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
- Comprehensive Injury Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Christine L Larson
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA
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Foster JC, Hodges HR, Beloborodova A, Cohodes EM, Phillips MQ, Anderson E, Fagbenro B, Gee DG. Integrating developmental neuroscience with community-engaged approaches to address mental health outcomes for housing-insecure youth: Implications for research, practice, and policy. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2024; 68:101399. [PMID: 38875770 PMCID: PMC11225708 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2023] [Revised: 03/16/2024] [Accepted: 05/30/2024] [Indexed: 06/16/2024] Open
Abstract
One in three children in the United States is exposed to insecure housing conditions, including unaffordable, inconsistent, and unsafe housing. These exposures have detrimental impacts on youth mental health. Delineating the neurobehavioral pathways linking exposure to housing insecurity with children's mental health has the potential to inform interventions and policy. However, in approaching this work, carefully considering the lived experiences of youth and families is essential to translating scientific discovery to improve health outcomes in an equitable and representative way. In the current paper, we provide an introduction to the range of stressful experiences that children may face when exposed to insecure housing conditions. Next, we highlight findings from the early-life stress literature regarding the potential neurobehavioral consequences of insecure housing, focusing on how unpredictability is associated with the neural circuitry supporting cognitive and emotional development. We then delineate how community-engaged research (CEnR) approaches have been leveraged to understand the effects of housing insecurity on mental health, and we propose future research directions that integrate developmental neuroscience research and CEnR approaches to maximize the impact of this work. We conclude by outlining practice and policy recommendations that aim to improve the mental health of children exposed to insecure housing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jordan C Foster
- Yale University, Department of Psychology, New Haven, CT, United States.
| | - H R Hodges
- University of Minnesota, Institute of Child Development, Minneapolis, MN, United States
| | - Anna Beloborodova
- Yale University, Department of Psychology, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - Emily M Cohodes
- Yale University, Department of Psychology, New Haven, CT, United States
| | | | | | | | - Dylan G Gee
- Yale University, Department of Psychology, New Haven, CT, United States.
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12
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Sangha S, Fitzgerald JM. Translational approaches to the neurobiological study of conditional discrimination and inhibition: Implications for psychiatric disease. Behav Neurosci 2024; 138:244-259. [PMID: 38913706 PMCID: PMC11574918 DOI: 10.1037/bne0000594] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/26/2024]
Abstract
There is a growing number of studies investigating discriminatory fear conditioning and conditioned inhibition of fear to assess safety learning, in addition to extinction of cued fear. Despite all of these paradigms resulting in a reduction in fear expression, there are nuanced differences among them, which could be mediated through distinct behavioral and neural mechanisms. These differences could impact how we approach potential treatment options in clinical disorders with dysregulated fear responses. The objective of this review is to give an overview of the conditional discrimination and inhibition findings reported in both animal models and human neuropsychiatric disorders. Both behavioral and neural findings are reviewed among human and rodent studies that include conditional fear discrimination via conditional stimuli with and without reinforcement (CS+ vs. CS-, respectively) and/or conditional inhibition of fear through assessment of the fear response to a compound CS-/CS+ cue versus CS+. There are several parallels across species in behavioral fear expression as well as neural circuits promoting fear reduction in response to a CS- and/or CS-/CS+ compound cue. Continued and increased efforts to compare similar behavioral fear inhibition paradigms across species are needed to make breakthrough advances in our understanding and treatment approaches to individuals with fear disorders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Susan Sangha
- Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine
- Stark Neuroscience Research Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine
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13
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Kreutzmann JC, Kahl E, Fendt M. Sex-specific modulation of safety learning in Shank2-deficient mice. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2024; 132:110973. [PMID: 38369099 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2024.110973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2023] [Revised: 02/13/2024] [Accepted: 02/14/2024] [Indexed: 02/20/2024]
Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired perceptual processing and social communication, intellectual disabilities, and repetitive behaviors. Interestingly, while not a core symptom, anxiety disorders frequently co-occur in individuals with ASD and deficits in safety learning have been described in patients with anxiety-related disorders. Because genetic factors, such as SHANK deficiency (loss-of-function mutations), have been linked to ASD, the aim of the present study was to investigate whether Shank2 deficiency interferes with associative fear and safety signal learning. To first investigate trait anxiety, male and female Shank2-deficient mice were exposed to a light-dark box test. Mice were then submitted to a combination of contextual fear conditioning and single-cue safety conditioning. The results show that Shank2 deficiency increases trait anxiety but reduces contextual fear learning. In male but not female Shank2-deficient mice, reduced single-cued safety learning was observed. This safety learning deficit was not caused by altered anxiety levels, increased locomotor activity, or reduced contextual fear since these changes were also observed in female Shank2-deficient mice. Concluding, our data indicate that the observed safety learning deficits in Shank2-deficient male mice could contribute to the emotional symptoms observed in ASD and the high comorbidity with anxiety-related disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Judith C Kreutzmann
- Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany.; Molecular Neurobiology, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Evelyn Kahl
- Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Markus Fendt
- Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany.; Center of Behavioral Brain Sciences, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany.
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14
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Wang Z, Wang Z, Zhou Q. Modulation of learning safety signals by acute stress: paraventricular thalamus and prefrontal inhibition. Neuropsychopharmacology 2024; 49:961-973. [PMID: 38182776 PMCID: PMC11039638 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-023-01790-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2023] [Revised: 12/07/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/07/2024]
Abstract
Distinguishing between cues predicting safety and danger is crucial for survival. Impaired learning of safety cues is a central characteristic of anxiety-related disorders. Despite recent advances in dissecting the neural circuitry underlying the formation and extinction of conditioned fear, the neuronal basis mediating safety learning remains elusive. Here, we showed that safety learning reduces the responses of paraventricular thalamus (PVT) neurons to safety cues, while activation of these neurons controls both the formation and expression of safety memory. Additionally, the PVT preferentially activates prefrontal cortex somatostatin interneurons (SOM-INs), which subsequently inhibit parvalbumin interneurons (PV-INs) to modulate safety memory. Importantly, we demonstrate that acute stress impairs the expression of safety learning, and this impairment can be mitigated when the PVT is inhibited, indicating PVT mediates the stress effect. Altogether, our findings provide insights into the mechanism by which acute stress modulates safety learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zongliang Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Oncogenomics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Genomics, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, China
| | - Zeyi Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Oncogenomics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Genomics, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, China
| | - Qiang Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Oncogenomics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Genomics, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
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15
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Crosswell AD, Mayer SE, Whitehurst LN, Picard M, Zebarjadian S, Epel ES. Deep rest: An integrative model of how contemplative practices combat stress and enhance the body's restorative capacity. Psychol Rev 2024; 131:247-270. [PMID: 38147050 PMCID: PMC11003855 DOI: 10.1037/rev0000453] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2023]
Abstract
Engaging in contemplative practice like meditation, yoga, and prayer, is beneficial for psychological and physical well-being. Recent research has identified several underlying psychological and biological pathways that explain these benefits. However, there is not yet consensus on the underlying overlapping physiological mechanisms of contemplative practice benefits. In this article, we integrate divergent scientific literatures on contemplative practice interventions, stress science, and mitochondrial biology, presenting a unified biopsychosocial model of how contemplative practices reduce stress and promote physical health. We argue that engaging in contemplative practice facilitates a restorative state termed "deep rest," largely through safety signaling, during which energetic resources are directed toward cellular optimization and away from energy-demanding stress states. Our model thus presents a framework for how contemplative practices enhance positive psychological and physiological functioning by optimizing cellular energy consumption. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra D. Crosswell
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco
| | - Stefanie E. Mayer
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco
| | | | - Martin Picard
- Department of Psychiatry, Division of Behavioral Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University Irving Medical Center
- Department of Neurology, H. Houston Merritt Center, Columbia Translational Neuroscience Initiative, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University Irving Medical Center
- New York State Psychiatric Institute
| | | | - Elissa S. Epel
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco
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16
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Odriozola P, Kribakaran S, Cohodes EM, Zacharek SJ, McCauley S, Haberman JT, Quintela LA, Hernandez C, Spencer H, Pruessner L, Caballero C, Gee DG. Hippocampal Involvement in Safety Signal Learning Varies With Anxiety Among Healthy Adults. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY GLOBAL OPEN SCIENCE 2024; 4:155-164. [PMID: 38298801 PMCID: PMC10829678 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2023.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2022] [Revised: 03/15/2023] [Accepted: 05/31/2023] [Indexed: 02/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Safety signal learning (SSL), based on conditioned inhibition of fear in the presence of learned safety, can effectively attenuate threat responses in animal models and humans. Difficulty regulating threat responses is a core feature of anxiety disorders, suggesting that SSL may provide a novel mechanism for fear reduction. Cross-species evidence suggests that SSL involves functional connectivity between the anterior hippocampus and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. However, the neural mechanisms supporting SSL have not been examined in relation to trait anxiety or while controlling for the effect of novelty. Methods Here, we investigated the neural mechanisms involved in SSL and associations with trait anxiety in a sample of 64 healthy (non-clinically anxious) adults (ages 18-30 years; 43 female, 21 male) using physiological, behavioral, and neuroimaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging) data collected during an SSL task. Results During SSL, compared with individuals with lower trait anxiety, individuals with higher trait anxiety showed less fear reduction as well as altered hippocampal activation and hippocampal-dorsal anterior cingulate cortex functional connectivity, and lower inferior frontal gyrus and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activation. Importantly, the findings show that SSL reduces threat responding, across learning and over and above the effect of novelty, and involves hippocampal activation. Conclusions These findings provide new insights into the nature of SSL and suggest that there may be meaningful variation in SSL and related neural correlates as a function of trait anxiety, with implications for better understanding fear reduction and optimizing interventions for individuals with anxiety disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paola Odriozola
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | | | - Emily M. Cohodes
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | | | - Sarah McCauley
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | | | | | | | - Hannah Spencer
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Luise Pruessner
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Camila Caballero
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Dylan G. Gee
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
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17
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Stubbendorff C, Hale E, Day HLL, Smith J, Alvaro GS, Large CH, Stevenson CW. Pharmacological modulation of Kv3 voltage-gated potassium channels regulates fear discrimination and expression in a response-dependent manner. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2023; 127:110829. [PMID: 37451593 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2023.110829] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2023] [Revised: 07/07/2023] [Accepted: 07/11/2023] [Indexed: 07/18/2023]
Abstract
Various psychiatric diseases are characterized by aberrant cognition and emotional regulation. This includes inappropriately attributing affective salience to innocuous cues, which can be investigated using translationally relevant preclinical models of fear discrimination. Activity in the underpinning corticolimbic circuitry is governed by parvalbumin-expressing GABAergic interneurons, which also regulate fear discrimination. Kv3 voltage-gated potassium channels are highly expressed in these neurons and are important for controlling their activity, suggesting that pharmacological Kv3 modulation may regulate fear discrimination. We determined the effect of the positive Kv3 modulator AUT00206 given systemically to female rats undergoing limited or extended auditory fear discrimination training, which we have previously shown results in more discrimination or generalization, respectively, based on freezing at retrieval. We also characterized darting and other active fear-related responses. We found that limited training resulted in more discrimination based on freezing, which was unaffected by AUT00206. In contrast, extended training resulted in more generalization based on freezing and the emergence of discrimination based on darting during training and, to a lesser extent, at retrieval. Importantly, AUT00206 given before extended training had dissociable effects on fear discrimination and expression at retrieval depending on the response examined. While AUT00206 mitigated generalization without affecting expression based on freezing, it reduced expression without affecting discrimination based on darting, although darting levels were low overall. These results indicate that pharmacological Kv3 modulation regulates fear discrimination and expression in a response-dependent manner. They also raise the possibility that targeting Kv3 channels may ameliorate perturbed cognition and emotional regulation in psychiatric disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christine Stubbendorff
- School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough LE12 5RD, UK
| | - Ed Hale
- School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough LE12 5RD, UK
| | - Harriet L L Day
- School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough LE12 5RD, UK
| | - Jessica Smith
- School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough LE12 5RD, UK
| | - Giuseppe S Alvaro
- Autifony Therapeutics Limited, Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage SG1 2FX, UK
| | - Charles H Large
- Autifony Therapeutics Limited, Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage SG1 2FX, UK
| | - Carl W Stevenson
- School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough LE12 5RD, UK.
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18
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Wright KM, Cieslewski S, Chu A, McDannald MA. Optogenetic inhibition of the caudal substantia nigra inflates behavioral responding to uncertain threat and safety. Behav Neurosci 2023; 137:347-355. [PMID: 37796586 PMCID: PMC10966587 DOI: 10.1037/bne0000568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/06/2023]
Abstract
Defensive responding is adaptive when it approximates the current threat but maladaptive when it exceeds the current threat. Here we asked if the substantia nigra, a region consistently implicated in reward, is necessary to show appropriate levels of defensive responding in Pavlovian fear discrimination. Rats received bilateral transduction of the caudal substantia nigra with halorhodopsin or a control fluorophore and bilateral ferrule implants. Rats then behaviorally discriminated cues predicting unique foot shock probabilities (danger, p = 1; uncertainty, p = .25; and safety, p = 0). Green-light illumination (532 nm) during cue presentation inflated defensive responding of halorhodopsin rats-measured by suppression of reward seeking-to uncertainty and safety beyond control levels. Green-light illumination outside of cue presentation had no impact on halorhodopsin or control rat responding. The results reveal caudal substantia nigra cue activity is necessary to inhibit defensive responding to nonthreatening and uncertain threat cues. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Amanda Chu
- Boston College, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience
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19
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Kutlu MG, Tat J, Christensen BA, Zachry JE, Calipari ES. Dopamine release at the time of a predicted aversive outcome causally controls the trajectory and expression of conditioned behavior. Cell Rep 2023; 42:112948. [PMID: 37543945 PMCID: PMC10528296 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112948] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2022] [Revised: 04/27/2023] [Accepted: 07/20/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) is causally linked to adaptive aversive learning, and its dysregulation is a core phenotype in anxiety and stress disorders. Here, we record NAc core dopamine during a task where mice learn to discriminate between cues signaling two types of outcomes: (1) footshock presentation and (2) footshock omission. We show that dopamine release is evoked by footshock omission. This dopamine response is largest when the omission is unexpected and decreases over learning, and artificially increasing this signal disrupts discrimination learning. Conversely, optogenetic inhibition of dopamine responses to the footshock itself impairs learning. Finally, theory-driven computational modeling suggests that these effects can be explained by dopamine signaling the perceived saliency of predicted aversive events. Together, we elucidate the role of NAc dopamine in aversive learning and offer potential avenues for understanding the neural mechanisms involved in anxiety and stress disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Munir Gunes Kutlu
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Jennifer Tat
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | | | - Jennifer E Zachry
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Erin S Calipari
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
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20
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Cassaday HJ, Muir C, Stevenson CW, Bonardi C, Hock R, Waite L. From safety to frustration: The neural substrates of inhibitory learning in aversive and appetitive conditioning procedures. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2023; 202:107757. [PMID: 37044368 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2023.107757] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2023] [Revised: 03/20/2023] [Accepted: 04/08/2023] [Indexed: 04/14/2023]
Abstract
Inhibitory associative learning counters the effects of excitatory learning, whether appetitively or aversively motivated. Moreover, the affective responses accompanying the inhibitory associations are of opponent valence to the excitatory conditioned responses. Inhibitors for negative aversive outcomes (e.g. shock) signal safety, while inhibitors for appetitive outcomes (e.g. food reward) elicit frustration and/or disappointment. This raises the question as to whether studies using appetitive and aversive conditioning procedures should demonstrate the same neural substrates for inhibitory learning. We review the neural substrates of appetitive and aversive inhibitory learning as measured in different procedural variants and in the context of the underpinning excitatory conditioning on which it depends. The mesocorticolimbic dopamine pathways, retrosplenial cortex and hippocampus are consistently implicated in inhibitory learning. Further neural substrates identified in some procedural variants may be related to the specific motivation of the learning task and modalities of the learning cues. Finally, we consider the translational implications of our understanding of the neural substrates of inhibitory learning, for obesity and addictions as well as for anxiety disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- H J Cassaday
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom.
| | - C Muir
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom; School of Physiology, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - C W Stevenson
- School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - C Bonardi
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - R Hock
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - L Waite
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
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21
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Ng KH, Sangha S. Encoding of conditioned inhibitors of fear in the infralimbic cortex. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:5658-5670. [PMID: 36411540 PMCID: PMC10152082 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2022] [Revised: 10/17/2022] [Accepted: 10/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Cues in the environment signaling the absence of threat, i.e. safety, can influence both fear and reward-seeking behaviors. Heightened and maladaptive fear is associated with reduced activity in the medial prefrontal cortex. We have previously shown in male rats that the infralimbic (IL) prefrontal cortex is necessary for suppressing fear during a safety cue. The objective of the present study was to determine if there was safety cue-specific neural activity within the IL using a Pavlovian conditioning paradigm, where a fear cue was paired with shock, a safety cue was paired with no shock, and a reward cue was paired with sucrose. To investigate how safety cues can suppress fear, the fear and safety cues were presented together as a compound fear + safety cue. Single-unit activity showed a large proportion of neurons with excitatory responses to the fear + safety cue specifically, a separate group of neurons with excitatory responses to both the reward and fear + safety cues, and bidirectional neurons with excitation to the fear + safety cue and inhibition to the fear cue. Neural activity was also found to be negatively correlated with freezing during the fear + safety cue. Together, these data implicate the IL in encoding specific aspects of conditioned inhibitors when fear is being actively suppressed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ka H Ng
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, United States
| | - Susan Sangha
- Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202, United States
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22
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Wright KM, Cieslewski S, Chu A, McDannald MA. Optogenetic inhibition of the caudal substantia nigra inflates behavioral responding to uncertain threat and safety. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.02.18.529041. [PMID: 36824795 PMCID: PMC9949108 DOI: 10.1101/2023.02.18.529041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/20/2023]
Abstract
Defensive responding is adaptive when it approximates current threat, but maladaptive when it exceeds current threat. Here we asked if the substantia nigra, a region consistently implicated in reward, is necessary to show appropriate levels of defensive responding in Pavlovian fear discrimination. Rats received bilateral transduction of the caudal substantia nigra with halorhodopsin or a control fluorophore, and bilateral ferrule implants. Rats then behaviorally discriminated cues predicting unique foot shock probabilities (danger, p =1; uncertainty, p =0.25; and safety, p =0). Green-light illumination (532 nm) during cue presentation inflated defensive responding of halorhodopsin rats - measured by suppression of reward seeking - to uncertainty and safety beyond control levels. Green-light illumination outside of cue presentation had no impact on halorhodopsin or control rat responding. The results reveal caudal substantia nigra cue activity is necessary to inhibit defensive responding to non-threatening and uncertain threat cues.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Amanda Chu
- Boston College, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience
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23
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Kintscher M, Kochubey O, Schneggenburger R. A striatal circuit balances learned fear in the presence and absence of sensory cues. eLife 2023; 12:75703. [PMID: 36655978 PMCID: PMC9897731 DOI: 10.7554/elife.75703] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2021] [Accepted: 01/16/2023] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
During fear learning, defensive behaviors like freezing need to be finely balanced in the presence or absence of threat-predicting cues (conditioned stimulus, CS). Nevertheless, the circuits underlying such balancing are largely unknown. Here, we investigate the role of the ventral tail striatum (vTS) in auditory-cued fear learning of male mice. In vivo Ca2+ imaging showed that sizable sub-populations of direct (D1R+) and indirect pathway neurons (Adora+) in the vTS responded to footshocks, and to the initiation of movements after freezing; moreover, a sub-population of D1R+ neurons increased its responsiveness to an auditory CS during fear learning. In-vivo optogenetic silencing shows that footshock-driven activity of D1R+ neurons contributes to fear memory formation, whereas Adora+ neurons modulate freezing in the absence of a learned CS. Circuit tracing identified the posterior insular cortex (pInsCx) as an important cortical input to the vTS, and recording of optogenetically evoked EPSCs revealed long-term plasticity with opposite outcomes at the pInsCx synapses onto D1R+ - and Adora+ neurons. Thus, direct- and indirect pathways neurons of the vTS show differential signs of plasticity after fear learning, and balance defensive behaviors in the presence and absence of learned sensory cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Kintscher
- Laboratory for Synaptic Mechanisms, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Science, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneLausanneSwitzerland
| | - Olexiy Kochubey
- Laboratory for Synaptic Mechanisms, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Science, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneLausanneSwitzerland
| | - Ralf Schneggenburger
- Laboratory for Synaptic Mechanisms, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Science, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneLausanneSwitzerland
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24
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Kitt ER, Odriozola P, Gee DG. Extinction Learning Across Development: Neurodevelopmental Changes and Implications for Pediatric Anxiety Disorders. Curr Top Behav Neurosci 2023; 64:237-256. [PMID: 37532964 DOI: 10.1007/7854_2023_430] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/04/2023]
Abstract
Alterations in extinction learning relate to the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders across the lifespan. While exposure therapy, based on principles of extinction, can be highly effective for treating anxiety, many patients do not show sufficient improvement following treatment. In particular, evidence suggests that exposure therapy does not work sufficiently for up to 40% of children who receive this evidence-based treatment.Importantly, fear learning and extinction, as well as the neural circuitry supporting these processes, undergo dynamic changes across development. An improved understanding of developmental changes in extinction learning and the associated neural circuitry may help to identify targets to improve treatment response in clinically anxious children and adolescents. In this chapter, we provide a brief overview of methods used to study fear learning and extinction in developmental populations. We then review what is currently known about the developmental changes that occur in extinction learning and related neural circuitry. We end this chapter with a discussion of the implications of these neurodevelopmental changes for the characterization and treatment of pediatric anxiety disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Paola Odriozola
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Dylan G Gee
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
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25
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Huang J, Xu F, Yang L, Tuolihong L, Wang X, Du Z, Zhang Y, Yin X, Li Y, Lu K, Wang W. Involvement of the GABAergic system in PTSD and its therapeutic significance. Front Mol Neurosci 2023; 16:1052288. [PMID: 36818657 PMCID: PMC9928765 DOI: 10.3389/fnmol.2023.1052288] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2022] [Accepted: 01/16/2023] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
The neurobiological mechanism of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is poorly understood. The inhibition of GABA neurons, especially in the amygdala, is crucial for the precise regulation of the consolidation, expression, and extinction of fear conditioning. The GABAergic system is involved in the pathophysiological process of PTSD, with several studies demonstrating that the function of the GABAergic system decreases in PTSD patients. This paper reviews the preclinical and clinical studies, neuroimaging techniques, and pharmacological studies of the GABAergic system in PTSD and summarizes the role of the GABAergic system in PTSD. Understanding the role of the GABAergic system in PTSD and searching for new drug targets will be helpful in the treatment of PTSD.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Fei Xu
- Department of Psychiatry of School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Liping Yang
- Department of Applied Psychology of School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Lina Tuolihong
- Department of Basic Medical of Basic Medical College, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xiaoyu Wang
- Eight-Year Master's and Doctoral Program in Clinical Medicine of the First Clinical Medical College, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Zibo Du
- Eight-Year Master's and Doctoral Program in Clinical Medicine of the First Clinical Medical College, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yiqi Zhang
- Eight-Year Master's and Doctoral Program in Clinical Medicine of the First Clinical Medical College, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xuanlin Yin
- Department of Basic Medical of Basic Medical College, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yingjun Li
- Department of Medical Laboratory Science, School of Laboratory Medicine and Biotechnology, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Kangrong Lu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Construction and Detection in Tissue Engineering, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Wanshan Wang
- Department of Laboratory Animal Center, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
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26
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Gee DG. Neurodevelopmental mechanisms linking early experiences and mental health: Translating science to promote well-being among youth. AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGIST 2022; 77:1033-1045. [PMID: 36595400 PMCID: PMC9875304 DOI: 10.1037/amp0001107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Early experiences can have profound and lasting effects on mental health. Delineating neurodevelopmental pathways related to risk and resilience following adversity exposure is critical for promoting well-being and targeting interventions. A rapidly growing cross-species literature has facilitated advances in identifying neural and behavioral mechanisms linking early experiences with mental health, highlighting a central role of corticolimbic circuitry involved in learning and emotion regulation. Building upon knowledge of corticolimbic development related to stress and buffering factors, we describe the importance of the developmental timing and experiential elements of adversity in mental health outcomes. Finally, we discuss opportunities to translate knowledge of the developing brain and early experiences to optimize interventions for youth with psychopathology and to inform policy that promotes healthy development at the societal level. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
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Pace-Schott EF, Seo J, Bottary R. The influence of sleep on fear extinction in trauma-related disorders. Neurobiol Stress 2022; 22:100500. [PMID: 36545012 PMCID: PMC9761387 DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2022.100500] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2022] [Revised: 10/21/2022] [Accepted: 10/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
In Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), fear and anxiety become dysregulated following psychologically traumatic events. Regulation of fear and anxiety involves both high-level cognitive processes such as cognitive reattribution and low-level, partially automatic memory processes such as fear extinction, safety learning and habituation. These latter processes are believed to be deficient in PTSD. While insomnia and nightmares are characteristic symptoms of existing PTSD, abundant recent evidence suggests that sleep disruption prior to and acute sleep disturbance following traumatic events both can predispose an individual to develop PTSD. Sleep promotes consolidation in multiple memory systems and is believed to also do so for low-level emotion-regulatory memory processes. Consequently sleep disruption may contribute to the etiology of PTSD by interfering with consolidation in low-level emotion-regulatory memory systems. During the first weeks following a traumatic event, when in the course of everyday life resilient individuals begin to acquire and consolidate these low-level emotion-regulatory memories, those who will develop PTSD symptoms may fail to do so. This deficit may, in part, result from alterations of sleep that interfere with their consolidation, such as REM fragmentation, that have also been found to presage later PTSD symptoms. Here, sleep disruption in PTSD as well as fear extinction, safety learning and habituation and their known alterations in PTSD are first briefly reviewed. Then neural processes that occur during the early post-trauma period that might impede low-level emotion regulatory processes through alterations of sleep quality and physiology will be considered. Lastly, recent neuroimaging evidence from a fear conditioning and extinction paradigm in patient groups and their controls will be considered along with one possible neural process that may contribute to a vulnerability to PTSD following trauma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edward F. Pace-Schott
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Corresponding author. Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital - East, CNY 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA, 02129, USA.
| | - Jeehye Seo
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Korea University, Department of Brain & Cognitive Engineering, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Ryan Bottary
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA
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28
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Kribakaran S, Odriozola P, Cohodes EM, McCauley S, Zacharek SJ, Hodges H, Haberman JT, Pierre JC, Gee DG. Neural circuitry involved in conditioned inhibition via safety signal learning is sensitive to trauma exposure. Neurobiol Stress 2022; 21:100497. [PMID: 36532365 PMCID: PMC9755062 DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2022.100497] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2022] [Revised: 10/04/2022] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Exposure to trauma throughout the lifespan is prevalent and increases the likelihood for the development of mental health conditions such as anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Safety signal learning (SSL)--a form of conditioned inhibition that involves reducing fear via conditioned safety--has been shown to effectively attenuate fear responses among individuals with trauma exposure, but the association between trauma exposure and the neural mechanisms of SSL remains unknown. Adults with varied prior exposure to trauma completed a conditioned inhibition task during functional MRI scanning and collection of skin conductance response (SCR). Conditioned safety signals reduced psychophysiological reactivity (i.e., SCR) in the overall sample. Although exposure to a higher number of traumatic events was associated with elevated SCR across all task conditions, SCR did not differ between threat in the presence of conditioned safety (i.e., SSL) relative to threat alone in a trauma-related manner. At the neural level, however, higher levels of trauma exposure were associated with lower hippocampal, amygdala, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortical activation during SSL. These findings suggest that while conditioned safety signals can reduce fear in the presence of threat even among individuals exposed to higher degrees of trauma, the neural circuitry involved in SSL is in fact sensitive to trauma exposure. Future research investigating neural processes during SSL among individuals with PTSD or anxiety can further elucidate the ways in which SSL and its neural correlates may reduce fear and link trauma exposure with later mental health conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sahana Kribakaran
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
- Yale School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Paola Odriozola
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | | | - Sarah McCauley
- Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, New York, NY, USA
| | - Sadie J. Zacharek
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - H.R. Hodges
- Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | | | | | - Dylan G. Gee
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
- Corresponding author. 2 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA.
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29
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Gee DG, Sisk LM, Cohodes EM, Bryce NV. Leveraging the science of stress to promote resilience and optimize mental health interventions during adolescence. Nat Commun 2022; 13:5693. [PMID: 36171218 PMCID: PMC9519553 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33416-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2022] [Accepted: 09/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Dylan G Gee
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA.
| | - Lucinda M Sisk
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA
| | - Emily M Cohodes
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA
| | - Nessa V Bryce
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
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30
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Infralimbic medial prefrontal cortex signalling to calbindin 1 positive neurons in posterior basolateral amygdala suppresses anxiety- and depression-like behaviours. Nat Commun 2022; 13:5462. [PMID: 36115848 PMCID: PMC9482654 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33139-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2021] [Accepted: 09/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Generalization is a fundamental cognitive ability of organisms to deal with the uncertainty in real-world situations. Excessive fear generalization and impaired reward generalization are closely related to many psychiatric disorders. However, the neural circuit mechanism for reward generalization and its role in anxiety-like behaviours remain elusive. Here, we found a robust activation of calbindin 1-neurons (Calb 1) in the posterior basolateral amygdala (pBLA), simultaneous with reward generalization to an ambiguous cue after reward conditioning in mice. We identify the infralimbic medial prefrontal cortex (IL) to the pBLACalb1 (Calb 1 neurons in the pBLA) pathway as being involved in reward generalization for the ambiguity. Activating IL–pBLA inputs strengthens reward generalization and reduces chronic unpredictable mild stress-induced anxiety- and depression-like behaviours in a manner dependent on pBLACalb1 neuron activation. These findings suggest that the IL–pBLACalb1 circuit could be a target to promote stress resilience via reward generalization and consequently ameliorate anxiety- and depression-like behaviours. The neural mechanisms for reward generalization are not fully understood. Here the authors investigate the role of posterior basolateral amygdala calbindin-expressing cells in modulating behavioural responses related to reward and aversion.
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31
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Adkins JM, Halcomb CJ, Rogers D, Jasnow AM. Stress and sex-dependent effects on conditioned inhibition of fear. Learn Mem 2022; 29:246-255. [PMID: 36206391 PMCID: PMC9488025 DOI: 10.1101/lm.053508.121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2022] [Accepted: 05/10/2022] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Abstract
Anxiety and stress-related disorders are highly prevalent and are characterized by excessive fear to threatening and nonthreatening stimuli. Moreover, there is a large sex bias in vulnerability to anxiety and stress-related disorders-women make up a disproportionately larger number of affected individuals compared with men. Growing evidence suggests that an impaired ability to suppress fear in the presence of safety signals may in part contribute to the development and maintenance of many anxiety and stress-related disorders. However, the sex-dependent impact of stress on conditioned inhibition of fear remains unclear. The present study investigated sex differences in the acquisition and recall of conditioned inhibition in male and female mice with a focus on understanding how stress impacts fear suppression. In these experiments, the training context served as the "fear" cue and an explicit tone served as the "safety" cue. Here, we found a possible sex difference in the training requirements for safety learning, although this effect was not consistent across experiments. Reductions in freezing to the safety cue in female mice were also not due to alternative fear behavior expression such as darting. Next, using footshock as a stressor, we found that males were impaired in conditioned inhibition of freezing when the stress was experienced before, but not after, conditioned inhibition training. Females were unaffected by footshock stress when it was administered at either time. Extended conditioned inhibition training in males eliminated the deficit produced by footshock stress. Finally, exposing male and female mice to swim stress impaired safety learning in male mice only. Thus, we found sex × stress interactions in the learning of conditioned inhibition and sex-dependent effects of stress modality. The present study adds to the growing literature on sex differences in safety learning, which will be critical for developing sex-specific therapies for a variety of fear-related disorders that involve excessive fear and/or impaired fear inhibition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jordan M Adkins
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Brain Health Research Institute, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242, USA
| | - Carly J Halcomb
- Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Neuroscience, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina 29209, USA
| | - Danielle Rogers
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Brain Health Research Institute, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242, USA
| | - Aaron M Jasnow
- Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Neuroscience, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina 29209, USA
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32
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Leconstant C, Spitz E. Integrative Model of Human-Animal Interactions: A One Health-One Welfare Systemic Approach to Studying HAI. Front Vet Sci 2022; 9:656833. [PMID: 35968006 PMCID: PMC9372562 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2022.656833] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2021] [Accepted: 06/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The Integrative Model of Human-Animal Interactions (IMHAI) described herewith provides a conceptual framework for the study of interspecies interactions and aims to model the primary emotional processes involved in human-animal interactions. This model was developed from theoretical inputs from three fundamental disciplines for understanding interspecies interactions: neuroscience, psychology and ethology, with the objective of providing a transdisciplinary approach on which field professionals and researchers can build and collaborate. Seminal works in affective neuroscience offer a common basis between humans and animals and, as such, can be applied to the study of interspecies interactions from a One Health-One Welfare perspective. On the one hand, Jaak Panksepp's research revealed that primary/basic emotions originate in the deep subcortical regions of the brain and are shared by all mammals, including humans. On the other hand, several works in the field of neuroscience show that the basic physiological state is largely determined by the perception of safety. Thus, emotional expression reflects the state of an individual's permanent adaptation to ever-changing environmental demands. Based on this evidence and over 5 years of action research using grounded theory, alternating between research and practice, the IMHAI proposes a systemic approach to the study of primary-process emotional affects during interspecies social interactions, through the processes of emotional transfer, embodied communication and interactive emotional regulation. IMHAI aims to generate new hypotheses and predictions on affective behavior and interspecies communication. Application of such a model should promote risk prevention and the establishment of positive links between humans and animals thereby contributing to their respective wellbeing.
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33
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Thurston MD, Cassaday HJ. Safety Learning in Anxiety, Pavlovian Conditioned Inhibition and COVID Concerns. Front Psychol 2022; 13:866771. [PMID: 35444592 PMCID: PMC9014209 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.866771] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 03/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Experimental studies of fear conditioning have identified the effectiveness of safety signals in inhibiting fear and maintaining fear-motivated behaviors. In fear conditioning procedures, the presence of safety signals means that the otherwise expected feared outcome will not now occur. Differences in the inhibitory learning processes needed to learn safety are being identified in various psychological and psychiatric conditions. However, despite early theoretical interest, the role of conditioned inhibitors as safety signals in anxiety has been under-investigated to date, in part because of the stringent test procedures required to confirm the demonstration of conditioned inhibition as such. Nonetheless, the theoretical implications of an inhibitory learning perspective continue to influence clinical practice. Moreover, our understanding of safety signals is of additional importance in the context of the increased health anxiety and safety behaviors generated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meghan D Thurston
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom.,Department of Clinical Psychology, The Royal Derby Hospital, Derby, United Kingdom
| | - Helen J Cassaday
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
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34
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Labrenz F, Spisák T, Ernst TM, Gomes CA, Quick HH, Axmacher N, Elsenbruch S, Timmann D. Temporal dynamics of fMRI signal changes during conditioned interoceptive pain-related fear and safety acquisition and extinction. Behav Brain Res 2022; 427:113868. [PMID: 35364111 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2022.113868] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2021] [Revised: 03/14/2022] [Accepted: 03/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Associative learning and memory mechanisms drive interoceptive signaling along the gut-brain axis, thus shaping affective-emotional reactions and behavior. Specifically, learning to predict potentially harmful, visceral pain is assumed to succeed within very few trials. However, the temporal dynamics of cerebellar and cerebral fMRI signal changes underlying early acquisition and extinction of learned fear signals and the concomitant evolvement of safety learning remain incompletely understood. 3T fMRI data of healthy individuals from three studies were uniformly processed across the whole brain and the cerebellum including an advanced normalizing method of the cerebellum. All studies employed differential delay conditioning (N=94) with one visual cue (CS+) being repeatedly paired with visceral pain as unconditioned stimulus (US) while a second cue remained unpaired (CS-). During subsequent extinction (N=51), all CS were presented without US. Behavioral results revealed increased CS+-aversiveness and CS--pleasantness after conditioning and diminished valence ratings for both CS following extinction. During early acquisition, the CS- induced linearly increasing neural activation in the insula, midcingulate cortex, hippocampus, precuneus as well as cerebral and cerebellar somatomotor regions. The comparison between acquisition and extinction phases yielded a CS--induced linear increase in the posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus during early acquisition, while there was no evidence for linear fMRI signal changes for the CS+ during acquisition and for both CS during extinction. Based on theoretical accounts of discrimination and temporal difference learning, these results suggest a gradual evolvement of learned safety cues that engage emotional arousal, memory, and cortical modulatory networks. As safety signals are presumably more difficult to learn and to discriminate from learned threat cues, the underlying temporal dynamics may reflect enhanced salience and prediction processing as well as increasing demands for attentional resources and the integration of multisensory information. Maladaptive responses to learned safety signals are a clinically relevant phenotype in multiple conditions, including chronic visceral pain, and can be exceptionally resistant to modification or extinction. Through sustained hypervigilance, safety seeking constitutes one key component in pain and stress-related avoidance behavior, calling for future studies targeting the mechanisms of safety learning and extinction to advance current cognitive-behavioral treatment approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Franziska Labrenz
- Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, Faculty of Medicine, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany; Department of Neurology, Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences (C-TNBS), University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
| | - Tamás Spisák
- Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Thomas M Ernst
- Department of Neurology, Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences (C-TNBS), University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Carlos A Gomes
- Department of Neuropsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Harald H Quick
- High-Field and Hybrid Magnetic Resonance Imaging, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany; Erwin L. Hahn Institute for MR Imaging, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Nikolai Axmacher
- Department of Neuropsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Sigrid Elsenbruch
- Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, Faculty of Medicine, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany; Department of Neurology, Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences (C-TNBS), University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Dagmar Timmann
- Department of Neurology, Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences (C-TNBS), University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
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Huskey A, Taylor DJ, Friedman BH. “Generalized unsafety” as fear inhibition to safety signals in adults with and without childhood trauma. Dev Psychobiol 2022; 64:e22242. [DOI: 10.1002/dev.22242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2021] [Revised: 11/16/2021] [Accepted: 12/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Alisa Huskey
- Department of Psychology Virginia Tech Blacksburg Virginia USA
- Department of Psychology University of Arizona Tucson Arizona USA
| | - Daniel J. Taylor
- Department of Psychology University of Arizona Tucson Arizona USA
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36
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Batsikadze G, Diekmann N, Ernst TM, Klein M, Maderwald S, Deuschl C, Merz CJ, Cheng S, Quick HH, Timmann D. The cerebellum contributes to context-effects during fear extinction learning: a 7T fMRI study. Neuroimage 2022; 253:119080. [PMID: 35276369 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2021] [Revised: 02/14/2022] [Accepted: 03/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The cerebellum is involved in the acquisition and consolidation of learned fear responses. Knowledge about its contribution to extinction learning, however, is sparse. Extinction processes likely involve erasure of memories, but there is ample evidence that at least part of the original memory remains. We asked the question whether memory persists within the cerebellum following extinction training. The renewal effect, that is the reoccurrence of the extinguished fear memory during recall in a context different from the extinction context, constitutes one of the phenomena indicating that memory of extinguished learned fear responses is not fully erased during extinction training. We performed a differential AB-A/B fear conditioning paradigm in a 7-Tesla (7T) MRI system in 31 young and healthy men. On day 1, fear acquisition training was performed in context A and extinction training in context B. On day 2, recall was tested in contexts A and B. As expected, participants learned to predict that the CS+ was followed by an aversive electric shock during fear acquisition training. Skin conductance responses (SCRs) were significantly higher to the CS+ compared to the CS- at the end of acquisition. Differences in SCRs vanished in extinction and reoccurred in the acquisition context during recall indicating renewal. Fitting SCR data, a deep neural network model was trained to predict the correct shock value for a given stimulus and context. Event-related fMRI analysis with model-derived prediction values as parametric modulations showed significant effects on activation of the posterolateral cerebellum (lobules VI and Crus I) during recall. Since the prediction values differ based on stimulus (CS+ and CS-) and context during recall, data provide support that the cerebellum is involved in context-related recall of learned fear associations. Likewise, mean β values were highest in lobules VI and Crus I bilaterally related to the CS+ in the acquisition context during early recall. A similar pattern was seen in the vermis, but only on a trend level. Thus, part of the original memory likely remains within the cerebellum following extinction training. We found cerebellar activations related to the CS+ and CS- during fear acquisition training which likely reflect associative and non-associative aspects of the task. Cerebellar activations, however, were not significantly different for CS+ and CS-. Since the CS- was never followed by an electric shock, the cerebellum may contribute to associative learning related to the CS, for example as a safety cue.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giorgi Batsikadze
- Department of Neurology and Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences (C-TNBS), Essen University Hospital, University of Duisburg-Essen, Hufelandstraße 55, Essen 45147, Germany.
| | - Nicolas Diekmann
- Institute for Neural Computation, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Thomas Michael Ernst
- Department of Neurology and Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences (C-TNBS), Essen University Hospital, University of Duisburg-Essen, Hufelandstraße 55, Essen 45147, Germany; Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Michael Klein
- Department of Neurology and Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences (C-TNBS), Essen University Hospital, University of Duisburg-Essen, Hufelandstraße 55, Essen 45147, Germany
| | - Stefan Maderwald
- Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Cornelius Deuschl
- Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology, Essen University Hospital, Essen, Germany
| | - Christian Josef Merz
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Sen Cheng
- Institute for Neural Computation, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Harald H Quick
- Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany; High-Field and Hybrid MR Imaging, Essen University Hospital, Essen, Germany
| | - Dagmar Timmann
- Department of Neurology and Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences (C-TNBS), Essen University Hospital, University of Duisburg-Essen, Hufelandstraße 55, Essen 45147, Germany; Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
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37
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Bublatzky F, Schellhaas S, Guerra P. The mere sight of loved ones does not inhibit psychophysiological defense mechanisms when threatened. Sci Rep 2022; 12:2515. [PMID: 35169193 PMCID: PMC8847570 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-06514-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2021] [Accepted: 01/31/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Looking at pictures of loved ones, such as one's romantic partner or good friends, has been shown to alleviate the experience of pain and reduce defensive reactions. However, little is known about such modulatory effects on threat and safety learning and the psychophysiological processes involved. Here, we explored the hypothesis that beloved faces serve as implicit safety cues and attenuate the expression of fear responses and/or accelerate extinction learning in a threatening context. Thirty-two participants viewed pictures of their loved ones (romantic partner, parents, and best friend) as well as of unknown individuals within contextual background colors indicating threat-of-shock or safety. Focusing on the extinction of non-reinforced threat associations (no shocks were given), the experiment was repeated on two more test days while the defensive startle-EMG, SCR, and threat ratings were obtained. Results confirmed pronounced defensive responding to instructed threat-of-shock relative to safety context (e.g., threat-enhanced startle reflex and SCR). Moreover, threat-potentiated startle response slowly declined across test days indicating passive extinction learning in the absence of shocks. Importantly, neither a main effect of face category (loved vs. unknown) nor a significant interaction with threat/safety instructions was observed. Thus, a long-term learning history of beneficial relations (e.g., with supportive parents) did not interfere with verbal threat learning and aversive apprehensions. These findings reflect the effects of worries and apprehensions that persist despite the repeated experience of safety and the pictorial presence of loved ones. How to counter such aversive expectations is key to changing mal-adaptive behaviors (e.g., avoidance or stockpiling), biased risk perceptions, and stereotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florian Bublatzky
- Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, J5, 68159, Mannheim, Germany. .,Department of Personality, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
| | - Sabine Schellhaas
- Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, J5, 68159, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Pedro Guerra
- Department of Personality, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
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Adams TG, Cisler JM, Kelmendi B, George JR, Kichuk SA, Averill CL, Anticevic A, Abdallah CG, Pittenger C. Transcranial direct current stimulation targeting the medial prefrontal cortex modulates functional connectivity and enhances safety learning in obsessive-compulsive disorder: Results from two pilot studies. Depress Anxiety 2022; 39:37-48. [PMID: 34464485 PMCID: PMC8732293 DOI: 10.1002/da.23212] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2021] [Revised: 06/29/2021] [Accepted: 07/09/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Exposed-based psychotherapy is a mainstay of treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxious psychopathology. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the default mode network (DMN), which is anchored by the mPFC, promote safety learning. Neuromodulation targeting the mPFC might augment therapeutic safety learning and enhance response to exposure-based therapies. METHODS To characterize the effects of mPFC neuromodulation on functional connectivity, 17 community volunteers completed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans before and after 20 min of frontopolar anodal multifocal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). To examine the effects of tDCS on therapeutic safety learning, 24 patients with OCD completed a pilot randomized clinical trial; they were randomly assigned (double-blind, 50:50) to receive active or sham frontopolar tDCS before completing an in vivo exposure and response prevention (ERP) challenge. Changes in subjective emotional distress during the ERP challenge were used to index therapeutic safety learning. RESULTS In community volunteers, frontal pole functional connectivity with the middle and superior frontal gyri increased, while connectivity with the anterior insula and basal ganglia decreased (ps < .001, corrected) after tDCS; functional connectivity between DMN and salience network also decreased after tDCS (ps < .001, corrected). OCD patients who received active tDCS exhibited more rapid therapeutic safety learning (ps < .05) during the ERP challenge than patients who received sham tDCS. CONCLUSIONS Frontopolar tDCS may modulate mPFC and DMN functional connectivity and can accelerate therapeutic safety learning. Though limited by small samples, these findings motivate further exploration of the effects of frontopolar tDCS on neural and behavioral targets associated with exposure-based psychotherapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas G Adams
- Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Clinical Neuroscience Division of the National Center for PTSD, West Haven VA Medical Center, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Josh M Cisler
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Dell Medical School, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA
| | - Benjamin Kelmendi
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Clinical Neuroscience Division of the National Center for PTSD, West Haven VA Medical Center, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Jamilah R George
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Mansfield, Connecticut, USA
| | - Stephen A Kichuk
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Christopher L Averill
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Clinical Neuroscience Division of the National Center for PTSD, West Haven VA Medical Center, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, Texas, USA
- Menninger Department of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Alan Anticevic
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Chadi G Abdallah
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Clinical Neuroscience Division of the National Center for PTSD, West Haven VA Medical Center, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, Texas, USA
- Menninger Department of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Christopher Pittenger
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
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39
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Meyer HC, Sangha S, Radley JJ, LaLumiere RT, Baratta MV. Environmental certainty influences the neural systems regulating responses to threat and stress. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 131:1037-1055. [PMID: 34673111 PMCID: PMC8642312 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.10.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2021] [Revised: 09/29/2021] [Accepted: 10/01/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Flexible calibration of threat responding in accordance with the environment is an adaptive process that allows an animal to avoid harm while also maintaining engagement of other goal-directed actions. This calibration process, referred to as threat response regulation, requires an animal to calculate the probability that a given encounter will result in a threat so they can respond accordingly. Here we review the neural correlates of two highly studied forms of threat response suppression: extinction and safety conditioning. We focus on how relative levels of certainty or uncertainty in the surrounding environment alter the acquisition and application of these processes. We also discuss evidence indicating altered threat response regulation following stress exposure, including enhanced fear conditioning, and disrupted extinction and safety conditioning. To conclude, we discuss research using an animal model of coping that examines the impact of stressor controllability on threat responding, highlighting the potential for previous experiences with control, or other forms of coping, to protect against the effects of future adversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heidi C Meyer
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.
| | - Susan Sangha
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
| | - Jason J Radley
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA.
| | - Ryan T LaLumiere
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA.
| | - Michael V Baratta
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80301, USA.
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40
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Kutlu MG, Zachry JE, Melugin PR, Cajigas SA, Chevee MF, Kelly SJ, Kutlu B, Tian L, Siciliano CA, Calipari ES. Dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens core signals perceived saliency. Curr Biol 2021; 31:4748-4761.e8. [PMID: 34529938 PMCID: PMC9084920 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.08.052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 129] [Impact Index Per Article: 32.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2020] [Revised: 07/15/2021] [Accepted: 08/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
A large body of work has aimed to define the precise information encoded by dopaminergic projections innervating the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Prevailing models are based on reward prediction error (RPE) theory, in which dopamine updates associations between rewards and predictive cues by encoding perceived errors between predictions and outcomes. However, RPE cannot describe multiple phenomena to which dopamine is inextricably linked, such as behavior driven by aversive and neutral stimuli. We combined a series of behavioral tasks with direct, subsecond dopamine monitoring in the NAc of mice, machine learning, computational modeling, and optogenetic manipulations to describe behavior and related dopamine release patterns across multiple contingencies reinforced by differentially valenced outcomes. We show that dopamine release only conforms to RPE predictions in a subset of learning scenarios but fits valence-independent perceived saliency encoding across conditions. Here, we provide an extended, comprehensive framework for accumbal dopamine release in behavioral control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Munir Gunes Kutlu
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Jennifer E Zachry
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Patrick R Melugin
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Stephanie A Cajigas
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Maxime F Chevee
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Shannon J Kelly
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Banu Kutlu
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Libraries Strategic Technologies, Penn State University Libraries, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Lin Tian
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
| | - Cody A Siciliano
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Erin S Calipari
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
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41
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Race NS, Andrews KD, Lungwitz EA, Vega Alvarez SM, Warner TR, Acosta G, Cao J, Lu KH, Liu Z, Dietrich AD, Majumdar S, Shekhar A, Truitt WA, Shi R. Psychosocial impairment following mild blast-induced traumatic brain injury in rats. Behav Brain Res 2021; 412:113405. [PMID: 34097900 PMCID: PMC9284795 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2021] [Revised: 06/02/2021] [Accepted: 06/02/2021] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with increased risk for mental health disorders, impacting post-injury quality of life and societal reintegration. TBI is also associated with deficits in psychosocial processing, defined as the cognitive integration of social and emotional behaviors, however little is known about how these deficits manifest and their contributions to post-TBI mental health. In this pre-clinical investigation using rats, a single mild blast TBI (mbTBI) induced impairment of psychosocial processing in the absence of confounding physical polytrauma, post-injury motor deficits, affective abnormalities, or deficits in non-social behavior. Impairment severity correlated with acute upregulations of a known oxidative stress metabolite, 3-hydroxypropylmercapturic acid (3-HPMA), in urine. Resting state fMRI alterations in the acute post-injury period implicated key brain regions known to regulate psychosocial behavior, including orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), which is congruent with our previous report of elevated acrolein, a marker of neurotrauma and 3-HPMA precursor, in this region following mbTBI. OFC of mbTBI-exposed rats demonstrated elevated mRNA expression of metabotropic glutamate receptors 1 and 5 (mGluR1/5) and injection of mGluR1/5-selective agonist in OFC of uninjured rats approximated mbTBI-induced psychosocial processing impairment, demonstrating a novel role for OFC in this psychosocial behavior. Furthermore, OFC may serve as a hotspot for TBI-induced disruption of psychosocial processing and subsequent mental health disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas S Race
- Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA; Medical Scientist Training Program, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | - Katharine D Andrews
- Medical Scientist Training Program, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA; Paul and Carole Stark Neurosciences Research Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA; Program in Medical Neuroscience, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | - Elizabeth A Lungwitz
- Paul and Carole Stark Neurosciences Research Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA; Program in Medical Neuroscience, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | - Sasha M Vega Alvarez
- PULSe Interdisciplinary Life Science Program, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Timothy R Warner
- Paul and Carole Stark Neurosciences Research Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA; Department of Anatomy, Cellular Biology & Physiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | - Glen Acosta
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Jiayue Cao
- Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA; Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Kun-Han Lu
- Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA; School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Zhongming Liu
- Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA; Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA; School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Amy D Dietrich
- Paul and Carole Stark Neurosciences Research Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA; Department of Anatomy, Cellular Biology & Physiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | - Sreeparna Majumdar
- Paul and Carole Stark Neurosciences Research Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA; Program in Medical Neuroscience, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | - Anantha Shekhar
- Paul and Carole Stark Neurosciences Research Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | - William A Truitt
- Paul and Carole Stark Neurosciences Research Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA; Department of Anatomy, Cellular Biology & Physiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
| | - Riyi Shi
- Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA; PULSe Interdisciplinary Life Science Program, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA; Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA; Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA; Center for Paralysis Research, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
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42
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Molet M, Craddock P, Osroff AJ, Li P, Livingston TL, Miller RR. Mere Exposure Effect Is Sometimes Insensitive to Mood Inductions. Exp Psychol 2021; 68:81-93. [PMID: 34405693 DOI: 10.1027/1618-3169/a000514] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
The mere exposure effect (MEE) is defined as repeated exposures to a stimulus enhancing affective evaluations of that stimulus (Zajonc, 1968). The three prominent explanations of the MEE are Zajonc's "neophobia" account, the uncertainty reduction account, and the perceptual fluency approach. Zajonc's "neophobia" account posits that people have an inherent low level of fear of novel objects and exposure to the objects partially extinguishes this novelty-based fear. The uncertainty reduction account asserts that people find uncertainty aversive and habituation reduces uncertainty. The fluency account postulates that people "like" representations of things with which they are fluent. In four experiments, we induced positive and negative moods before or after target exposures. In addition to assessing the MEE in each condition, we assessed the mood induction. The central hypothesis assessed in this series was that there would be an interaction between mood and the MEE. Although the three accounts of the MEE generated divergent predictions, none of the accounts were well supported by the data. Tests for mood induction demonstrated the efficacy of the induction procedures and the MEE was consistently observed, but Bayesian analysis indicated that at least in the present preparation mood had no effect on the MEE.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikael Molet
- Department of Psychology, University of Lille, France
| | - Paul Craddock
- Department of Psychology, University of Lille, France
| | - Alana J Osroff
- Department of Psychology, SUNY-Binghamton, Binghamton, NY, USA
| | - Patty Li
- Department of Psychology, SUNY-Binghamton, Binghamton, NY, USA
| | | | - Ralph R Miller
- Department of Psychology, SUNY-Binghamton, Binghamton, NY, USA
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43
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Yan R, Wang T, Ma X, Zhang X, Zheng R, Zhou Q. Prefrontal inhibition drives formation and dynamic expression of probabilistic Pavlovian fear conditioning. Cell Rep 2021; 36:109503. [PMID: 34380026 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2021] [Revised: 06/08/2021] [Accepted: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The association between cause and effect is usually probabilistic. Memories triggered by ambiguous cues may be altered or biased into a more negative perception in psychiatric diseases. Understanding the formation and modulation of this probabilistic association is important for revealing the nature of aversive memory and alterations in brain diseases. We found that 50% conditioned and unconditioned stimuli (CS-US) association during Pavlovian fear conditioning results in reduced fear responses and neural spiking in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) due to enhanced inhibition from dmPFC parvalbumin (PV) neurons. Formation of probabilistic memory is associated with increased synaptic inputs to PV-neurons and requires activation of ventral hippocampus, which detects CS-US mismatch during conditioning. Stress prior to conditioning impairs the formation of probabilistic memory by abolishing PV-neuronal plasticity, while stress prior to memory retrieval reverts enhanced PV-neuron activity. In conclusion, PV-neurons tailor learned responses to fit brain state at the moment of retrieval.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rongzhen Yan
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Oncogenomics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Genomics, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, PRC
| | - Tianyu Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Oncogenomics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Genomics, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, PRC
| | - Xiaoyan Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Oncogenomics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Genomics, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, PRC
| | - Xinyang Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Oncogenomics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Genomics, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, PRC
| | - Rui Zheng
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Oncogenomics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Genomics, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, PRC
| | - Qiang Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Oncogenomics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Genomics, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, PRC.
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44
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Koenig S, Körfer K, Lachnit H, Glombiewski JA. An attentional perspective on differential fear conditioning in chronic pain: The informational value of safety cues. Behav Res Ther 2021; 144:103917. [PMID: 34325187 DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2021.103917] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2020] [Revised: 05/20/2021] [Accepted: 06/21/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Differences in fear conditioning between individuals suffering from chronic pain and healthy controls may indicate a learning bias that contributes to the acquisition and persistence of chronic pain. However, evidence from lab-controlled conditioning studies is sparse and previous experiments have produced inconsistent findings. Twenty-five participants suffering from chronic back pain and twenty-five controls not reporting chronic pain took part in a differential fear conditioning experiment measuring attention (eye tracking) and autonomic arousal (pupil dilation and skin conductance) elicited by visual cues predicting the presence or absence of electric shock. In contrast to the healthy control group, participants with chronic pain did not acquire differential autonomic responding to cues of threat and safety and specifically failed to acquire any attentional preference for the safety cue over irrelevant contextual cues (while such preference was intact for the threat cue). We present simulations of a reinforcement learning model to show how the pattern of data can be explained by assuming that participants with chronic pain might have experienced less positive emotion (relief) when the electric shock was absent following safety cues. Our model shows how this assumption can explain both, reduced differential responding to cues of threat and safety as well as less selective attention to the safety cue.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephan Koenig
- Department of Psychology, Universität Koblenz-Landau, Germany; Department of Psychology, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany.
| | - Karoline Körfer
- Department of Psychology, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany
| | - Harald Lachnit
- Department of Psychology, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany
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45
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Grasser LR, Jovanovic T. Safety learning during development: Implications for development of psychopathology. Behav Brain Res 2021; 408:113297. [PMID: 33862062 PMCID: PMC8102395 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113297] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2020] [Revised: 03/23/2021] [Accepted: 04/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Fear and safety learning are necessary adaptive behaviors that develop over the course of maturation. While there is a large body of literature regarding the neurobiology of fear and safety learning in adults, less is known regarding safety learning during development. Given developmental changes in the brain, there are corresponding changes in safety learning that are quantifiable; these may serve to predict risk and point to treatment targets for fear and anxiety-related disorders in children and adolescents. For healthy, typically developing youth, the main developmental variation observed is reduced discrimination between threat and safety cues in children compared to adolescents and adults, while lower expression of extinction learning is exhibited in adolescents compared to adults. Such distinctions may be related to faster maturation of the amygdala relative to the prefrontal cortex, as well as incompletely developed functional circuits between the two. Fear and anxiety-related disorders, childhood maltreatment, and behavioral problems are all associated with alterations in safety learning for youth, and this dysfunction may proceed into adulthood with corresponding abnormalities in brain structure and function-including amygdala hypertrophy and hyperreactivity. As impaired inhibition of fear to safety may reflect abnormalities in the developing brain and subsequent psychopathology, impaired safety learning may be considered as both a predictor of risk and a treatment target. Longitudinal neuroimaging studies over the course of development, and studies that query change with interventions are needed in order to improve outcomes for individuals and reduce long-term impact of developmental psychopathology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lana Ruvolo Grasser
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, 3901 Chrysler Dr, Tolan Park Suite 2C Room 273, Detroit, MI 48201 United States.
| | - Tanja Jovanovic
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, 3901 Chrysler Dr, Tolan Park Suite 2C, Detroit, MI 48201 United States.
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46
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Neurochemical Signaling of Reward and Aversion to Ventral Tegmental Area Glutamate Neurons. J Neurosci 2021; 41:5471-5486. [PMID: 34001626 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1419-20.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2020] [Revised: 04/29/2021] [Accepted: 05/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Ventral tegmental area (VTA) glutamate neurons signal and participate in reward and aversion-based behaviors. However, the neurochemical mechanisms that underlie how these neurons contribute to motivated behaviors is unknown. We used a combination of optical sensors to identify how distinct neurochemical inputs to VTA glutamate neurons participate in motivated behavior within female and male transgenic mice. Activity of glutamate inputs to VTA glutamate neurons increased for both reward-predicting and aversion-predicting cues and aversive outcomes, but subpopulations of glutamate inputs were increased or decreased by reward. For both reward and aversion-based cues and outcomes, activity of GABA inputs to VTA glutamate neurons mostly decreased. GCaMP recordings showed overall population increases in VTA glutamate neuron intracellular calcium during reward and aversion-based cues and outcomes. Electrophysiological recordings of VTA VGluT2 neurons showed that glutamate receptor activation increases firing while loss of excitation via glutamate receptor blockade decreases firing. GABA-A receptor activation decreased VTA glutamate neuron firing but GABA-A receptor blockade did not significantly change VTA glutamate neuron firing. Electrophysiological recordings in coordination with our sensor data suggest that glutamate inputs strongly regulate VTA glutamate neuron participation in diverse motivated behaviors.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Glutamate and GABA are the primary excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters of the nervous system. However, identifying how these neurotransmitters regulate motivated behavior has remained challenging because of a lack of tools (1) capable of measuring neurotransmission at the temporal scale of motivated behaviors and (2) capable of capturing chemical signaling onto genetically-distinct neuronal populations. We have overcome these obstacles by implementing genetically-encoded fluorescent indicators to monitor both glutamate and GABA input dynamics exclusively to ventral tegmental area (VTA) glutamate neurons during reward and aversion-based behaviors. We identify that glutamate and GABA inputs to VTA glutamate neurons differentially and dynamically signal reward and aversion-based cues and outcomes. This research provides foundational evidence that links distinct neurotransmitters to motivated behaviors regulated by VTA glutamate neurons.
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47
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Fendt M, Kreutzmann JC, Jovanovic T. Learning safety to reduce fear: Recent insights and potential implications. Behav Brain Res 2021; 411:113402. [PMID: 34089756 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Markus Fendt
- Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology, Leipziger Str. 44, D-39120, Magdeburg, Germany.
| | - Judith C Kreutzmann
- Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology, Leipziger Str. 44, D-39120, Magdeburg, Germany.
| | - Tanja Jovanovic
- Wayne State University, School of Medicine, Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, 245 Tolan Park Medical Building, 3901 Chrysler Service Drive, Detroit, MI, 48201, USA
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48
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Laing PAF, Harrison BJ. Safety learning and the Pavlovian conditioned inhibition of fear in humans: Current state and future directions. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 127:659-674. [PMID: 34023357 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.05.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2021] [Revised: 05/07/2021] [Accepted: 05/17/2021] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Safety learning occurs when an otherwise neutral stimulus comes to signal the absence of threat, allowing organisms to use safety information to inhibit fear and anxiety in nonthreatening environments. Although it continues to emerge as a topic of relevance in biological and clinical psychology, safety learning remains inconsistently defined and under-researched. Here, we analyse the Pavlovian conditioned inhibition paradigm and its application to the study of safety learning in humans. We discuss existing studies; address outstanding theoretical considerations; and identify prospects for its further application. Though Pavlovian conditioned inhibition presents a theoretically sound model of safety learning, it has been investigated infrequently, with decade-long interims between some studies, and notable methodological variability. Consequently, we argue that the full potential of conditioned inhibition as a model for human safety learning remains untapped, and propose that it could be revisited as a framework for addressing timely questions in the behavioural and clinical sciences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick A F Laing
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
| | - Ben J Harrison
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
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49
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Meyer HC, Gerhard DM, Amelio PA, Lee FS. Pre-adolescent stress disrupts adult, but not adolescent, safety learning. Behav Brain Res 2021; 400:113005. [PMID: 33171149 PMCID: PMC8283802 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2020.113005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2020] [Revised: 09/26/2020] [Accepted: 11/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent across the lifespan, although diagnoses peak early in adolescence. As a method for inhibiting fear, safety signals have the potential to augment conventional treatments for anxiety. However, the ability to acquire and use safety signals during adolescence remains unclear. Moreover, the impact of stress on safety learning has received surprisingly little attention given that stress is a major factor preceding anxiety onset. In this study, mice were trained in a discriminative conditioning protocol to facilitate safety learning and were tested for fear inhibition using a conditioned safety signal. Next, independent groups of mice were exposed to chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) conditions between postnatal day 22 and 28, followed by tests for anxiety-like phenotypes or fear inhibition using a safety signal, performed either 24 h or five weeks following CUS. Pre-adolescent CUS reduced weight in adolescence and this effect endured into adulthood. CUS also increased specific anxiety-like behaviors in adolescence that were unique from the increase in anxiety observed in adulthood. Despite increased anxiety-like behaviors, adolescents were able to learn about and effectively use safety signals to inhibit fear. In contrast, adults that experienced CUS showed a subtle increase in anxiety but had impaired safety signal learning and usage. Together, these findings indicate that pre-adolescent stress has immediate and enduring effects on anxiety-like behaviors but impairs the capacity for conditioned inhibition only following incubation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heidi C Meyer
- Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10065, USA.
| | - Danielle M Gerhard
- Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10065, USA.
| | - Paia A Amelio
- Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10065, USA; School of Communication, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA.
| | - Francis S Lee
- Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10065, USA; Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10065, USA.
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Harrewijn A, Kitt ER, Abend R, Matsumoto C, Odriozola P, Winkler AM, Leibenluft E, Pine DS, Gee DG. Comparing neural correlates of conditioned inhibition between children with and without anxiety disorders - A preliminary study. Behav Brain Res 2021; 399:112994. [PMID: 33160010 PMCID: PMC7855938 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2020.112994] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2020] [Revised: 10/26/2020] [Accepted: 10/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), a first-line treatment for pediatric anxiety disorders, is based on principles of threat learning and extinction. However, CBT does not work sufficiently for up to 40% of clinically anxious youth. The neural and behavioral correlates of conditioned inhibition might provide promising targets for attempts to improve CBT response. During conditioned inhibition, threat and safety cues appear together, forming a safety compound. Here, we test whether this safety compound elicits a reduced fear response compared to pairing the threat cue with a novel cue (novel compound). The current pilot study compares behavioral, physiological, and neural correlates of conditioned inhibition between children with (n = 17, Mage = 13.09, SDage = 3.05) and without (n = 18, Mage = 14.49, SDage = 2.38) anxiety disorders. Behavioral and physiological measures did not differ between children with and without anxiety disorders during fear acquisition. During testing, children with anxiety disorders showed overall higher skin conductance response and expected to hear the aversive sound following the novel compound more often than children without anxiety disorders. Children with anxiety disorders showed more activity in the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) to the safety versus novel compound. Children without anxiety disorders showed the opposite pattern - more right vmPFC activity to the novel versus safety compound (F(1,31) = 5.40, p = 0.03). No group differences manifested within the amygdala, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, or hippocampus. These pilot findings suggest a feasible approach for examining conditioned inhibition in pediatric anxiety disorders. If replicated in larger samples, findings may implicate perturbed conditioned inhibition in pediatric anxiety disorders and provide targets for CBT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anita Harrewijn
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
| | - Elizabeth R Kitt
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
| | - Rany Abend
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
| | - Chika Matsumoto
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
| | - Paola Odriozola
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, 2 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA
| | - Anderson M Winkler
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
| | - Ellen Leibenluft
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
| | - Daniel S Pine
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
| | - Dylan G Gee
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, 2 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA
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