Dopamine and fear memory formation in the human amygdala
(2022) In Molecular Psychiatry 27(3). p.1704-1711- Abstract
Learning which environmental cues that predict danger is crucial for survival and accomplished through Pavlovian fear conditioning. In humans and rodents alike, fear conditioning is amygdala-dependent and rests on similar neurocircuitry. Rodent studies have implicated a causative role for dopamine in the amygdala during fear memory formation, but the role of dopamine in aversive learning in humans is unclear. Here, we show dopamine release in the amygdala and striatum during fear learning in humans. Using simultaneous positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging, we demonstrate that the amount of dopamine release is linked to strength of conditioned fear responses and linearly coupled to learning-induced... (More)
Learning which environmental cues that predict danger is crucial for survival and accomplished through Pavlovian fear conditioning. In humans and rodents alike, fear conditioning is amygdala-dependent and rests on similar neurocircuitry. Rodent studies have implicated a causative role for dopamine in the amygdala during fear memory formation, but the role of dopamine in aversive learning in humans is unclear. Here, we show dopamine release in the amygdala and striatum during fear learning in humans. Using simultaneous positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging, we demonstrate that the amount of dopamine release is linked to strength of conditioned fear responses and linearly coupled to learning-induced activity in the amygdala. Thus, like in rodents, formation of amygdala-dependent fear memories in humans seems to be facilitated by endogenous dopamine release, supporting an evolutionary conserved neurochemical mechanism for aversive memory formation.
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- author
- Frick, Andreas ; Björkstrand, Johannes LU ; Lubberink, Mark ; Eriksson, Allison ; Fredrikson, Mats and Åhs, Fredrik
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Molecular Psychiatry
- volume
- 27
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 1704 - 1711
- publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85120672256
- pmid:34862441
- ISSN
- 1359-4184
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41380-021-01400-x
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- d36a7c8c-27e2-4fca-870b-109b75932caa
- date added to LUP
- 2022-01-18 13:54:30
- date last changed
- 2024-06-17 02:45:31
@article{d36a7c8c-27e2-4fca-870b-109b75932caa,
abstract = {{<p>Learning which environmental cues that predict danger is crucial for survival and accomplished through Pavlovian fear conditioning. In humans and rodents alike, fear conditioning is amygdala-dependent and rests on similar neurocircuitry. Rodent studies have implicated a causative role for dopamine in the amygdala during fear memory formation, but the role of dopamine in aversive learning in humans is unclear. Here, we show dopamine release in the amygdala and striatum during fear learning in humans. Using simultaneous positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging, we demonstrate that the amount of dopamine release is linked to strength of conditioned fear responses and linearly coupled to learning-induced activity in the amygdala. Thus, like in rodents, formation of amygdala-dependent fear memories in humans seems to be facilitated by endogenous dopamine release, supporting an evolutionary conserved neurochemical mechanism for aversive memory formation.</p>}},
author = {{Frick, Andreas and Björkstrand, Johannes and Lubberink, Mark and Eriksson, Allison and Fredrikson, Mats and Åhs, Fredrik}},
issn = {{1359-4184}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{3}},
pages = {{1704--1711}},
publisher = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
series = {{Molecular Psychiatry}},
title = {{Dopamine and fear memory formation in the human amygdala}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41380-021-01400-x}},
doi = {{10.1038/s41380-021-01400-x}},
volume = {{27}},
year = {{2022}},
}