Genetic disruptions of Drosophila Pavlovian learning leave extinction learning intact

Qin, H., Dubnau, J. T. (March 2010) Genetic disruptions of Drosophila Pavlovian learning leave extinction learning intact. Genes Brain and Behavior, 9 (2). pp. 203-212. ISSN 1601-1848

Abstract

Individuals who experience traumatic events may develop persistent posttraumatic stress disorder. Patients with this disorder are commonly treated with exposure therapy, which has had limited long-term success. In experimental neurobiology, fear extinction is a model for exposure therapy. In this behavioral paradigm, animals are repeatedly exposed in a safe environment to the fearful stimulus, which leads to greatly reduced fear. Studying animal models of extinction already has lead to better therapeutic strategies and development of new candidate drugs. Lack of a powerful genetic model of extinction, however, has limited progress in identifying underlying molecular and genetic factors. In this study, we established a robust behavioral paradigm to study the short-term effect (acquisition) of extinction in Drosophila melanogaster. We focused on the extinction of olfactory aversive 1-day memory with a task that has been the main workhorse for genetics of memory in flies. Using this paradigm, we show that extinction can inhibit each of two genetically distinct forms of consolidated memory. We then used a series of single-gene mutants with known impact on associative learning to examine the effects on extinction. We find that extinction is intact in each of these mutants, suggesting that extinction learning relies on different molecular mechanisms than does Pavlovian learning.

Item Type: Paper
Uncontrolled Keywords: Drosophila extinction learning genetics LTM olfactory memory Pavlovian learning LONG-TERM-MEMORY ACTIVATED PROTEIN-KINASE GATED CALCIUM-CHANNELS MIDBRAIN PERIAQUEDUCTAL GRAY CONDITIONED FEAR EXTINCTION CONSOLIDATED MEMORY D-CYCLOSERINE NMDA RECEPTORS IMMEDIATE EXTINCTION SPONTANEOUS-RECOVERY
Subjects: diseases & disorders > mental disorders > anxiety disorders
organism description > animal > insect > Drosophila
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > Dubnau lab
CSHL Post Doctoral Fellows
Depositing User: CSHL Librarian
Date: March 2010
Date Deposited: 05 Oct 2011 13:48
Last Modified: 03 May 2013 13:56
PMCID: PMC2866079
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/15510

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