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Updated: Sep 30, 2025
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Ex Vivo Optogenetic Dissection of Fear Circuits in Brain Slices
Published on: April 5, 2016
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Postrhinal cortex contributions to the expression of auditory fear conditioning
Nicole E DeAngeli1, Danielle I Fournier1, Allan T Gulledge2
1Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, United States.
Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
|March 11, 2022
Summary
The postrhinal cortex (POR) is crucial for expressing auditory fear memories, even after extinction training. Silencing POR impairs recall of fear associated with sounds, regardless of context.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Neuroscience
- Memory Research
Background:
- The postrhinal cortex (POR), homologous to the primate parahippocampal cortex, is involved in spatial and contextual processing.
- Prior research indicates POR lesions impair contextual fear conditioning but not auditory fear conditioning acquisition.
- The role of POR in the *expression* of auditory fear conditioning remains less understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of the postrhinal cortex (POR) in the expression of auditory fear conditioning.
- To test the hypothesis that POR is necessary for recalling auditory fear memories after extinction, given its role in contextual memory.
Main Methods:
- Utilized chemogenetics to selectively silence neural activity in the POR during auditory fear memory retrieval.
- Examined the impact of POR inactivation on freezing behavior in response to auditory cues in both extinction and non-extinction paradigms.
Main Results:
- Inactivation of POR during retrieval impaired freezing to an auditory cue previously extinguished in a different context.
- POR silencing also reduced freezing to an auditory cue that had not undergone extinction.
- These findings suggest POR is involved in the expression of auditory fear conditioning, irrespective of extinction.
Conclusions:
- The postrhinal cortex (POR) plays a significant role in the expression of auditory fear conditioning.
- Contrary to initial hypotheses, POR's involvement extends beyond extinction-dependent recall, impacting general auditory fear memory expression.
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