Skip Navigation



Cerebral Cortex Advance Access published online on October 30, 2009
Cerebral Cortex, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhp210
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Tan, H.
Right arrow Articles by Laviolette, S. R.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Tan, H.
Right arrow Articles by Laviolette, S. R.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Integrated Cannabinoid CB1 Receptor Transmission within the Amygdala–Prefrontal Cortical Pathway Modulates Neuronal Plasticity and Emotional Memory Encoding

Huibing Tan, Nicole M. Lauzon, Stephanie F. Bishop, Melanie A. Bechard and Steven R. Laviolette

Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, The Schulich School of Medicine, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5C1

Address correspondence to Dr. Steven Laviolette, 468 Medical Science Building, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5C1. Email: steven.laviolette{at}schulich.uwo.ca.

The cannabinoid CB1 receptor system is functionally involved in the processing and encoding of emotionally salient sensory information, learning and memory. The CB1 receptor is found in high concentrations in brain structures that are critical for emotional processing, including the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). In addition, synaptic plasticity in the form of long-term potentiation (LTP) within the BLA > mPFC pathway is an established correlate of exposure to emotionally salient events. We performed a series of in vivo LTP studies by applying tetanic stimulation to the BLA combined with recordings of local field potentials within prelimbic cortical (PLC) region of the rat mPFC. Systemic pretreatment with AM-251 dose dependently blocked LTP along the BLA–PLC pathway and also the behavioral acquisition of conditioned fear memories. We next performed a series of microinfusion experiments wherein CB1 receptor transmission within the BLA > PLC circuit was pharmacologically blocked. Asymmetrical, interhemispheric blockade of CB1 receptor transmission along the BLA > PLC pathway prevented the acquisition of emotionally salient associative memory. Our results indicate that coordinated CB1 receptor transmission within the BLA > PLC pathway is critically involved in the encoding of emotional fear memories and modulates neural plasticity related to the encoding of emotionally salient associative learning.

Key Words: amygdala • cannabinoids • emotional learning • long-term potentiation • memory • prefrontal cortex


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.