IFEC 20925
INSTITUTO DE FARMACOLOGIA EXPERIMENTAL DE CORDOBA
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Activation of the ERK2 in Basolateral amygdala underlies the promoting influence of stress on fear memory and anxiety: Influence of midazolam pretreatment
Autor/es:
NOELIA M MALDONADO; PABLO J ESPEJO; IRENE D MARTIJENA; VICTOR ALEJANDRO MOLINA
Revista:
EUROPEAN NEUROPSYCHOFARMACOLOGY
Editorial:
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
Referencias:
Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2014 vol. 24 p. 262 - 270
ISSN:
0924-977X
Resumen:
Exposure toemotionallyarousingexperienceselicits arobustandpersistentmemoryandenhances anxiety.Theamygdalacomplexplaysakeyroleinstress-inducedemotionalprocessingandinthe fearmemoryformation.ItiswellknownthatERKactivationintheamygdalaisaprerequisitefor fearmemoryconsolidation.Moreover,stresselevates p-ERK2levelsinseveralareasofthebrain stress circuitry.Therefore,giventhattheERK1/2cascadeisactivatedfollowingstressandthatthe role ofthiscascadeiscriticalintheformationof fearmemory,thepresentstudyinvestigatedthe potential involvementofp-ERK2inamygdalasubnucleiinthepromotinginfluence ofstressonfear memory formationandonanxiety-likebehavior.A robust andpersistentERK2activationwasnoted in theBasolateralamygdala(BLA),whichwasevidentat5minafterrestraintandlastedatleast one dayafterthestressfulexperience.Midazolam, ashort-actingbenzodiazepineligand, administeredpriortostresspreventedtheincreaseinthep-ERK2levelintheBLA.Pretreatment with intra-BLAinfusionofU0126(MEKinhibitor),but notintotheadjacentcentralnucleusofthe amygdala, attenuatedthestress-inducedpromotinginfluenceonfearmemoryformation.Finally, U0126intra-BLAinfusionpreventedtheenhancementofanxiety-likebehaviorinstressedanimals. These findings suggestthattheselectiveERK2activation inBLAfollowingstressexposureisan importantmechanismfortheoccurrenceofthepromotinginfluence ofstressonfearmemoryand on anxiety-likebehavior. .
