| First Author | Clem RL | Year | 2010 |
| Journal | Science | Volume | 330 |
| Issue | 6007 | Pages | 1108-12 |
| PubMed ID | 21030604 | Mgi Jnum | J:166718 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:4849348 | Doi | 10.1126/science.1195298 |
| Citation | Clem RL, et al. (2010) Calcium-permeable AMPA receptor dynamics mediate fear memory erasure. Science 330(6007):1108-12 |
| abstractText | Traumatic fear memories can be inhibited by behavioral therapy for humans, or by extinction training in rodent models, but are prone to recur. Under some conditions, however, these treatments generate a permanent effect on behavior, which suggests that emotional memory erasure has occurred. The neural basis for such disparate outcomes is unknown. We found that a central component of extinction-induced erasure is the synaptic removal of calcium-permeable alpha-amino-3-hydroxyl-5-methyl-4-isoxazole-propionate receptors (AMPARs) in the lateral amygdala. A transient up-regulation of this form of plasticity, which involves phosphorylation of the glutamate receptor 1 subunit of the AMPA receptor, defines a temporal window in which fear memory can be degraded by behavioral experience. These results reveal a molecular mechanism for fear erasure and the relative instability of recent memory. |
