GREGORY QUIRK

..These data suggest a role of the vmPFC in consolidation of extinction learning or the recall of contexts in which extinction took place...

..Pharmacological methods to facilitate consolidation and retrieval of extinction, for both aversive and appetitive conditioning, are setting the stage for novel treatments for anxiety disorders and addictions...

..The use of modified extinction protocols to eliminate fear memories complements existing pharmacological strategies for strengthening extinction...

..Strategies for augmenting prefrontal function for clinical benefit are discussed...

..Furthermore, memory for conditioning and extinction can coexist in the same neuron...

..Novel neuropeptides, which can either excite or inhibit specific components of anxiety responses, offer promise in this regard...

..These data support the idea that conditioning and extinction of fear are learned by independent systems, each able to retain a long-term memory...

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..We suggest that consolidation of extinction learning potentiates infralimbic activity, which inhibits fear during subsequent encounters with fear stimuli...

..We suggest that the vmPFC accelerates extinction by permitting access to recently learned extinction trials, thereby maximizing behavioral flexibility...

..With an auditory fear conditioning task in rats, we assessed the effects of systemic propranolol on the expression and extinction of two measures of conditioned fear: freezing and suppression of bar-pressing...

..Thus, our findings support the idea that mPFC gates impulse transmission from the BLA to Ce, perhaps through GABAergic intercalated cells, thereby gating the expression of conditioned fear...

..Thus, emotional arousal evoked by conditioned fear paradoxically promotes the subsequent extinction of that fear, thereby ensuring behavioral flexibility...

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..We suggest that PL excites amygdala output and IL inhibits amygdala output, providing a mechanism for bidirectional modulation of fear expression...

..We suggest that NMDAR-dependent bursting in the infralimbic vmPFC initiates calcium-dependent molecular cascades that stabilize extinction memory, thereby allowing for successful recall of extinction...

..Inappropriate modulation of these intrinsic mechanisms may underlie anxiety disorders, characterized by exaggerated fear and deficient extinction...

..Given that the mPFC represents a common node in the extinction circuit for these behaviors, treatments that target this region may help alleviate symptoms of both anxiety and addictive disorders by enhancing extinction memory...

..We also analyze the available literature on the epidemiology of anxiety disorders and the existing evidence-based treatments for these conditions...

..We suggest that dual control of the amygdala by separate prefrontal modules increases the flexibility of an organism's response to danger cues...

..Imaging studies of human fear conditioning and extinction lend credence to this extinction network. Understanding the neural circuitry underlying extinction recall will lead to more effective therapies for disorders of fear and anxiety...

..The aim of the present study is to investigate the mediating anatomy of extinction recall in healthy humans...

..The vmPFC appears to be involved both in stimulating the expression of conditioned fear and in serving as a site of extinction-related plasticity that inhibits fear during recall of extinction...

..Understanding consolidation of fear extinction could lead to new treatments for anxiety disorders in which fear extinction is thought to be compromised...

..Hence, boosting BDNF activity in hippocampal-infralimbic circuits may ameliorate disorders of learned fear...

..The overlap in circuitry is consistent with a common mechanism, and points toward future experiments designed to bridge human and rodent models of emotion regulation...

..We suggest that PL integrates information from auditory and contextual inputs and regulates expression of fear memories via projections to the basal nucleus of the amygdala...

..This study examined the role of dACC during fear conditioning in healthy humans with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)...

..In this issue of Neuron, Jhou and colleagues identify a region in the midbrain tegmentum that signals aversive events and inhibits midbrain dopamine neurons...

..The pattern of lesion deficits we observed (after but not before training) might be explained by homeostatic mechanisms that balance plasticity over multiple inputs, regulating the influence of the BA and LA onto Ce output neurons...

..Understanding the signalling of aversive memory by amygdala neurons opens new avenues for research into the neural systems that support fear behaviour...

..Thus plasticity in both LA and CE would be necessary for acquisition of conditioned fear. This revised model also accounts for inhibition of conditioned fear after extinction...

..This information could also lead to new ways to increase the effectiveness of extinction-based therapies for treatment of PTSD. ..

..This information could also lead to new ways to increase the effectiveness of extinction-based therapies for treatment of PTSD. ..

..If successful, this approach could lead to a screening tool for identifying persons at high risk for developing an anxiety disorder and could augment existing extinction-based therapies. ..

..If successful, this approach could lead to a screening tool for identifying persons at high risk for developing an anxiety disorder and could augment existing extinction-based therapies. ..

..A detailed knowledge of the circuits and pharmacology of fear extinction could improve current exposure-based treatments for PTSD and phobias, which rely on extinction learning. ..

..Thus, the conference should have considerable scientific impact, as well as serving a capacity-building function in the region. ..