Medial prefrontal cortex neuronal circuits in fear behavior.

J. Courtin, T.C.M. Bienvenu, E.Ö. Einarsson, C. Herry
Neuroscience. 2013-06-01; 240: 219-242
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2013.03.001

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1. Neuroscience. 2013 Jun 14;240:219-42. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2013.03.001.
Epub 2013 Mar 14.

Medial prefrontal cortex neuronal circuits in fear behavior.

Courtin J(1), Bienvenu TC, Einarsson EÖ, Herry C.

Author information:
(1)INSERM U862, Neurocenter Magendie, 33077 Bordeaux, France.

The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) has emerged as a key structure involved in
the modulation of fear behavior over the past few decades. Anatomical, functional
and electrophysiological studies have begun to shed light on the precise
mechanisms by which different prefrontal regions regulate the expression and
inhibition of fear behavior. These studies have established a canonical view of
mPFC functions during fear behavior with dorsal regions selectively involved in
the expression of fear behavior and ventral regions linked to the inhibition of
fear behavior. Although numerous reports support this view, recent data have
refined this model and suggested that dorsal prefrontal regions might also play
an important role in the encoding of fear behavior itself. The recent development
of sophisticated approaches such as large scale neuronal recordings, simultaneous
multisite recordings of spiking activity and local field potentials (LFPs) along
with optogenetic approaches will facilitate the testing of these new hypotheses
in the near future. Here we provide an extensive review of the literature on the
role of mPFC in fear behavior and propose further directions to dissect the
contribution of specific prefrontal neuronal elements and circuits in the
regulation of fear behavior.

Copyright © 2013 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2013.03.001
PMID: 23500092 [Indexed for MEDLINE]

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