Memory extinction has been used in behavioral therapy to treat post-traumatic stress disorders. It was demonstrated that memory reactivation before extinction could facilitate this process. However, the mechanisms involved are still unclear. Here, we investigated the participation of two regions of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), the infralimbic (IL) and prelimbic (PL), in the memory reactivation modulatory effect of fear extinction. We confirmed that the reactivation facilitates the fear extinction in an inhibitory aversive task; however, when the muscimol (a GABAergic agonist) is infused in IL or PL vmPFC after reactivation, extinction's facilitation was not observed. These findings support the idea that the reactivation can modulate the fear extinction process, facilitating it, and that this effect requires the activation of both IL and PL regions of vmPFC.

记忆消退已被用于治疗创伤后应激障碍的行为疗法。研究表明，灭绝前的记忆重新激活可以促进这一过程。然而，所涉及的机制仍不清楚。在这里，我们研究了腹内侧前额叶皮层 (vmPFC) 的两个区域，即下边缘 (IL) 和前边缘 (PL) 在恐惧消退的记忆再激活调节作用中的参与。我们证实，重新激活有助于消除抑制性厌恶任务中的恐惧；然而，当重新激活后将蝇蕈醇（一种 GABA 能激动剂）注入 IL 或 PL vmPFC 时，未观察到促进消退。这些发现支持了重新激活可以调节恐惧消退过程的想法，促进它，