2016 journal article

Multimodal and Site-Specific Plasticity of Amygdala Parvalbumin Interneurons after Fear Learning

Neuron, 91(3), 629–643.

By: E. Lucas *, A. Jegarl*, H. Morishita * & R. Clem *

MeSH headings : Amygdala / cytology; Amygdala / metabolism; Amygdala / physiology; Animals; Conditioning, Psychological / physiology; Fear; Interneurons / physiology; Male; Mice; Neural Pathways / physiology; Neuronal Plasticity / physiology; Neurons / physiology; Parvalbumins / metabolism; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / metabolism
TL;DR: Examining synaptic connections between afferent pathways, PV-INs, and principal excitatory neurons in the basolateral amygdala reveals previously overlooked specializations of amygdala PV-Ins and indicates specific circuit mechanisms for inhibitory plasticity during the encoding of associative fear memories. (via Semantic Scholar)
Source: Crossref
Added: July 27, 2019

Stimulus processing in fear conditioning is constrained by parvalbumin interneurons (PV-INs) through inhibition of principal excitatory neurons. However, the contributions of PV-IN microcircuits to input gating and long-term plasticity in the fear system remain unknown. Here we interrogate synaptic connections between afferent pathways, PV-INs, and principal excitatory neurons in the basolateral amygdala. We find that subnuclei of this region are populated two functionally distinct PV-IN networks. PV-INs in the lateral (LA), but not the basal (BA), amygdala possess complex dendritic arborizations, receive potent excitatory drive, and mediate feedforward inhibition onto principal neurons. After fear conditioning, PV-INs exhibit nucleus- and target-selective plasticity, resulting in persistent reduction of their excitatory input and inhibitory output in LA but not BA. These data reveal previously overlooked specializations of amygdala PV-INs and indicate specific circuit mechanisms for inhibitory plasticity during the encoding of associative fear memories.