Pavlovian fear conditioning activates a common pattern of neurons in the lateral amygdala of individual brains

PLoS One. 2011 Jan 12;6(1):e15698. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015698.

Abstract

Understanding the physical encoding of a memory (the engram) is a fundamental question in neuroscience. Although it has been established that the lateral amygdala is a key site for encoding associative fear memory, it is currently unclear whether the spatial distribution of neurons encoding a given memory is random or stable. Here we used spatial principal components analysis to quantify the topography of activated neurons, in a select region of the lateral amygdala, from rat brains encoding a Pavlovian conditioned fear memory. Our results demonstrate a stable, spatially patterned organization of amygdala neurons are activated during the formation of a Pavlovian conditioned fear memory. We suggest that this stable neuronal assembly constitutes a spatial dimension of the engram.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Amygdala / cytology
  • Amygdala / physiology*
  • Animals
  • Conditioning, Psychological / physiology*
  • Fear / physiology*
  • Memory / physiology
  • Neurons / physiology*
  • Principal Component Analysis
  • Rats
  • Synaptic Transmission