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Representation of Fear of Heights by Basolateral Amygdala Neurons
Journal of Neuroscience ( IF 5.3 ) Pub Date : 2021-02-03 , DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0483-20.2020
Jun Liu 1, 2 , Longnian Lin 3 , Dong V Wang 4
Affiliation  

Fear of heights is evolutionarily important for survival, yet it is unclear how and which brain regions process such height threats. Given the importance of the basolateral amygdala (BLA) in mediating both learned and innate fear, we investigated how BLA neurons may respond to high-place exposure in freely behaving male mice. We found that a discrete set of BLA neurons exhibited robust firing increases when the mouse was either exploring or placed on a high place, accompanied by increased heart rate and freezing. Importantly, these high-place fear neurons were only activated under height threats, but not looming, acoustic startle, predatory odor, or mild anxiogenic conditions. Furthermore, after a fear-conditioning procedure, these high-place fear neurons developed conditioned responses to the context, but not the cue, indicating a convergence in processing of dangerous/risky contextual information. Our results provide insights into the neuronal representation of the fear of heights and may have implications for the treatment of excessive fear disorders.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Fear can be innate or learned, as innate fear does not require any associative learning or experiences. Previous research mainly focused on studying the neural mechanism of learned fear, often using an associative conditioning procedure such as pairing a tone with a footshock. Only recently scientists started to investigate the neural circuits of innate fear, including the fear of predator odors and looming visual threats; however, how the brain processes the innate fear of heights is unclear. Here we provide direct evidence that the basolateral amygdala (BLA) is involved in representing the fear of heights. A subpopulation of BLA neurons exhibits a selective response to height and contextual threats, but not to other fear-related sensory or anxiogenic stimuli.



中文翻译:

基底外侧杏仁核神经元表示恐高症

恐高症在进化上对生存很重要,但尚不清楚大脑区域如何以及哪些大脑区域处理这种高度威胁。鉴于基底外侧杏仁核 (BLA) 在调节习得性和先天性恐惧方面的重要性,我们研究了 BLA 神经元如何对行为自由的雄性小鼠的高处暴露做出反应。我们发现,当小鼠在探索或放置在高处时,一组离散的 BLA 神经元表现出强劲的放电增加,伴随着心率增加和冻结。重要的是,这些高处恐惧神经元仅在高度威胁下被激活,而不是迫在眉睫、听觉惊吓、掠食性气味或轻度焦虑条件下。此外,经过恐惧调节程序后,这些高位恐惧神经元对环境产生了条件反应,但没有对线索做出反应,表明在处理危险/有风险的上下文信息时趋同。我们的研究结果提供了对高度恐惧的神经元表征的见解,并可能对治疗过度恐惧症产生影响。

重要性陈述恐惧可以是先天的或后天习得的,因为先天的恐惧不需要任何联想学习或经验。以前的研究主要集中在研究习得性恐惧的神经机制上,通常使用联想调节程序,例如将音调与脚震配对。直到最近,科学家才开始研究先天恐惧的神经回路,包括对捕食者气味和迫在眉睫的视觉威胁的恐惧;然而,大脑如何处理天生的恐高症尚不清楚。在这里,我们提供了直接证据表明基底外侧杏仁核 (BLA) 参与代表对高度的恐惧。BLA 神经元亚群对身高和环境威胁表现出选择性反应,但对其他与恐惧相关的感觉或焦虑刺激没有反应。

更新日期:2021-02-03
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