Imaging conditioned fear circuitry using awake rodent fMRI

Nichola M. Brydges; Heather C. Whalley; Maurits A. Jansen; Gavin D. Merrifield; Emma R. Wood; Stephen M. Lawrie; Sara-Madge Wynne; Mark Day; Sue Fleetwood-Walker; Douglas Steele; Ian Marshall; Jeremy Hall; Megan C. Holmes

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054197

Imaging conditioned fear circuitry using awake rodent fMRI

Nichola M. Brydges, Heather C. Whalley, Maurits A. Jansen, Gavin D. Merrifield, Emma R. Wood, Stephen M. Lawrie, Sara-Madge Wynne, Mark Day, Sue Fleetwood-Walker, Douglas Steele, Ian Marshall, Jeremy Hall, Megan C. Holmes (Lead / Corresponding author)

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Abstract

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a powerful method for exploring emotional and cognitive brain responses in humans. However rodent fMRI has not previously been applied to the analysis of learned behaviour in awake animals, limiting its use as a translational tool. Here we have developed a novel paradigm for studying brain activation in awake rats responding to conditioned stimuli using fMRI. Using this method we show activation of the amygdala and related fear circuitry in response to a fear-conditioned stimulus and demonstrate that the magnitude of fear circuitry activation is increased following early life stress, a rodent model of affective disorders. This technique provides a new translatable method for testing environmental, genetic and pharmacological manipulations on emotional and cognitive processes in awake rodent models.

Original language	English
Article number	e54197
Pages (from-to)	1-7
Number of pages	7
Journal	PLoS ONE
Volume	9
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054197
Publication status	Published - 22 Jan 2013

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10.1371/journal.pone.0054197Licence: CC BY

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AU - Whalley, Heather C.

AU - Jansen, Maurits A.

AU - Merrifield, Gavin D.

AU - Wood, Emma R.

AU - Lawrie, Stephen M.

AU - Wynne, Sara-Madge

AU - Day, Mark

AU - Fleetwood-Walker, Sue

AU - Steele, Douglas

AU - Marshall, Ian

AU - Hall, Jeremy

AU - Holmes, Megan C.

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Imaging conditioned fear circuitry using awake rodent fMRI

Abstract

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