Topic: threat memory

Stress induces aversive memory overgeneralization, a hallmark of many psychiatric disorders. Memories for events are encoded by a sparse ensemble of principal neurons active during an event, termed an engram ensemble. Using engram labeling tools, molecular sensors, optogenetics and CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in specific neuronal populations we examined the molecular and circuit processes mediating stress-induced threat memory overgeneralization in mice. We found that stress, acting via corticosterone, increases the density of engram ensembles supporting a threat memory and this less sparse engra

Down-regulating emotional overreactions toward threats is fundamental for developing treatments for anxiety and post-traumatic disorders. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is critical for top-down modulatory processes, and despite previous studies adopting repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) over this region provided encouraging results in enhancing extinction, no studies have hitherto explored the effects of stimulating the medial anterior PFC (aPFC, encompassing the Brodmann area 10) on threat memory and generalization. In this study, we aimed to test an rTMS procedure over the aPF