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mGluR5 Has a Critical Role in Inhibitory Learning
- Source :
- The Journal of Neuroscience. 29:3676-3684
- Publication Year :
- 2009
- Publisher :
- Society for Neuroscience, 2009.
-
Abstract
- The mechanisms that contribute to the extinction of previously acquired memories are not well understood. These processes, often referred to as inhibitory learning, are thought to be parallel learning mechanisms that require a reacquisition of new information and suppression of previously acquired experiences in order to adapt to novel situations. Using newly generated metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) knock-out mice, we investigated the role of mGluR5 in the acquisition and reversal of an associative conditioned task and a spatial reference task. We found that acquisition of fear conditioning is partially impaired in mice lacking mGluR5. More markedly, we found that extinction of both contextual and auditory fear was completely abolished in mGluR5 knock-out mice. In the Morris Water Maze test (MWM), mGluR5 knock-out mice exhibited mild deficits in the rate of acquisition of the regular water maze task, but again had significant deficits in the reversal task, despite overall spatial memory being intact. Together, these results demonstrate that mGluR5 is critical to the function of neural circuits that are required for inhibitory learning mechanisms, and suggest that targeting metabotropic receptors may be useful in treating psychiatric disorders in which aversive memories are inappropriately retained.
- Subjects :
- Receptor, Metabotropic Glutamate 5
Morris water navigation task
Water maze
Receptors, Metabotropic Glutamate
Inhibitory postsynaptic potential
Article
Extinction, Psychological
Mice
Memory
mental disorders
Avoidance Learning
Biological neural network
Animals
Fear conditioning
Maze Learning
Mice, Knockout
Metabotropic glutamate receptor 5
General Neuroscience
Association Learning
Fear
Extinction (psychology)
Metabotropic receptor
Acoustic Stimulation
Conditioning, Operant
Psychology
Cognitive psychology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15292401 and 02706474
- Volume :
- 29
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....79de140b16a658f10b7a4d931f42e1c2