Journal article
Prefrontal dopaminergic mechanisms of extinction in adolescence compared to adulthood in rats
IC Zbukvic, CHJ Park, DE Ganella, AJ Lawrence, JH Kim
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience | Published : 2017
Abstract
Adolescents with anxiety disorders attain poorer outcomes following extinction-based treatment compared to adults. Extinction deficit during adolescence has been identified to involve immaturity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Findings from adult rodents suggest extinction involves dopamine signaling in the mPFC. This system changes dramatically during adolescence, but its role in adolescent extinction is unknown. Therefore, we investigated the role of prefrontal dopamine in extinction using Pavlovian fear conditioning in adolescent and adult rats. Using quantitative PCR (qPCR) analyses, we measured changes in dopamine receptor gene expression in the mPFC before and after extinction...
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Awarded by Australian Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
This work was supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award awarded to ICZ, Baker Foundation Fellowship awarded to DEG, a Principal Research Fellowship (APP1020737) from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia awarded to AJL, NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (grant number APP1083309) awarded to JHK and NHMRC Project grant (APP1063140) awarded to JHK and AJL. Australian Research Council Discovery Grant (DP150102496) awarded to JHK.