Knockdown of corticotropin-releasing factor 1 receptors in the ventral tegmental area enhances conditioned fear

NA Chen; DE Ganella; RAD Bathgate; A Chen; AJ Lawrence; JH Kim

Journal article

Knockdown of corticotropin-releasing factor 1 receptors in the ventral tegmental area enhances conditioned fear

NA Chen, DE Ganella, RAD Bathgate, A Chen, AJ Lawrence, JH Kim

European Neuropsychopharmacology | Published : 2016

DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2016.06.002

Abstract

The neuropeptide corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) coordinates the physiological and behavioural responses to stress. CRF receptors are highly expressed in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), an important region for motivated behaviour. Therefore, we examined the role of CRF receptor type 1 (CRFR1) in the VTA in conditioned fear, using a viral-mediated RNA interference approach. Following stereotaxic injection of a lentivirus that contained either shCRF-R1 or a control sequence, mice received tone-footshock pairings. Intra-VTA shCRF-R1 did not affect tone-elicited freezing during conditioning. Once conditioned fear was acquired, however, shCRF-R1 mice consistently showed stronger freezing t..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Ross Bathgate Author

Andrew Lawrence Author

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Grants

Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a project Grant (APP1063140) from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia awarded to JHK and AJL, Australian Postgraduate Award awarded to NAC, Baker Foundation Fellowship awarded to DEG, NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship (1020737) awarded to AJL, NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship (1042650) awarded to RADB, Career Development Fellowship (APP1083309) awarded to JHK. We acknowledge the Victorian Governments Operational Infrastructure Support Program. We would also like to thank the Florey Behaviour Core Facility. The authors declare no conflict of interest.