Fig. 4: Impaired extinction correlates with persistent fear-related activity in CEA subpopulations.
From: Central amygdala micro-circuits mediate fear extinction
a Behavioural protocol. FC: fear conditioning. CS: conditioned stimuli. b Behavioural data. S1 mice: n = 7; habituation, no CS: 19.9 ± 5.1%, CS: 41.2 ± 6.3%, beginning of extinction 1, no CS: 36.4 ± 10.1%, CS: 80.3 ± 3.8%, end of extinction 2, no CS: 49.8 ± 9.5%, CS: 78.9 ± 3.2%, blocks of 4 CSs. One-way repeated-measures ANOVA F(5,30) = 12.0, p < 0.001, followed by post hoc Bonferroni t-test vs. CS block during habituation, p < 0.01. Bar plots are expressed as means ± SEM. Circles are freezing values of individual mice. c Raster plots and corresponding spike waveforms of a representative CEm unit (top). Normalized and averaged population peri-stimulus time histograms (bottom). CEm neurons: n = 6 units from 2 mice; z-score, habituation: 0.45 ± 0.42, beginning of extinction 1: 3.12 ± 0.73, end of extinction 2: 2.21 ± 0.48, blocks of 4 CSs. One-way repeated-measures ANOVA F(2,10) = 5.9, p = 0.020 followed by post hoc Bonferroni t-test vs. during habituation, p < 0.05. d Raster plots and corresponding spike waveforms of a representative CEloff unit (top). Normalized and averaged population peri-stimulus time histograms (bottom). CEloff neurons: n = 8 units from 6 mice; z-score, habituation: −0.49 ± 0.87, beginning of extinction 1: −2.46 ± 1.13, end of extinction 2: −2.73 ± 1.87, blocks of 4 CSs. One-way repeated-measures ANOVA F(2,14) = 4.2, p = 0.037 followed by post hoc Bonferroni t-test vs. during habituation, p < 0.05. e Raster plots and corresponding spike waveforms of a representative CEloff unit (top). Normalized and averaged population peri-stimulus time histograms (bottom). CElon neurons: n = 31 units from 6 mice; z-score, habituation: 1.60 ± 0.38, beginning of extinction 1: 3.09 ± 0.48, end of extinction 2: 1.82 ± 0.46, blocks of 4 CSs. One-way repeated-measures ANOVA F(2,60) = 3.8, p = 0.028 followed by post hoc Bonferroni t-test vs. during habituation, p < 0.05. All individual neurons of each CEA population had significant z-score values upon CS presentation (first 4 CSs during extinction 1). Source data are provided as a Source data file.
