Topic: TetTag technology

Dysregulations of the fear responses can lead to anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While exposure therapy (or extinction in rodents) can significantly reduce the fear-associated symptoms, its effectiveness is limited with fear recovering spontaneously over time. While the activation of the amygdala is central for normal fear-related behavior, its hyperactivation may be at the core of pathological conditions including PTSD. Previous (including ours) studies using the TetTag technology showed that a subset of basal amygdala (BA) neurons activated during contextual

To survive, individuals use past experience to select an appropriate behaviour (for instance, approaching a previously rewarding, or avoid a previously punished, place). Past experience will also influence how each ongoing experience is assigned with a positive or negative value. The ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopaminergic (DA) neuronal circuitry is extensively studied in reward-motivated behaviours. Their role in punished ones is less known. Some studies showed that an aversive event may lead either to an activation or an inhibition of VTA DA neurons, suggesting a role for DA neurons in the