CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 23Memory and Neural MechanismsNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology ResearchAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes

Single unit activity in the lateral septum and central nucleus of the amygdala in the elevated plus-maze: a model of exposure therapy?

Thomas, Earl, Burock, Debra, Knudsen, Kimberly, Deterding, Erin, Yadin, Elna·2013·Neuroscience Letters
DOI 10.1016/j.neulet.2013.05.078
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

The central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) is a major output region of the amygdala involved in organizing the expression of fear. There is also evidence that the lateral septum (LS) provides inhibitory control of neurons in CeA and is involved in the relief of fear. This study examined single unit activity in the lateral septum (LS) and the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) in the open and closed arms of the elevated plus-maze, a highly validated animal model of fear and anxiety. The general presumption is that animals normally avoid the open arms because the open arms are relatively more anxiety provoking than the closed arms which represent relative safety. It was expected that neurons in CeA would increase their activity in the open arms relative to the closed arms indicative of increased anxiety and that LS neurons would decrease their activity on the open arms. Contrary to expectations it was found that the preponderance of units in CeA decreased their firing rates on the open arms compared to the closed arms. An increase in firing rates in LS was seen in the open arms compared to the closed arms. The data suggest that when animals are placed on the open arms a compensatory process takes place to suppress fear so that the animal can engage in adaptive behavior. We liken this process to that which takes place in exposure therapy for phobias in humans which involves the inhibition of fear resulting from Pavlovian extinction.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.neulet.2013.05.078

Cites

22 of 22 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • LS recordings during elevated plus maze (EPM) tests identified units whose activity increased from ~7.5 Hz in the closed arms to ~12.5 Hz in the open arms.

    “Furthermore, LS recordings during elevated plus maze (EPM) tests identified units whose activity increased from ~7.5 Hz in the closed arms to ~12.5 Hz in the open arms (Thomas et al., 2013).”

    From Control of Stress-Induced Persistent Anxiety by an Extra-Amygdala Septohypothalamic Circuit (2014) · cites this paper as Thomas et al., 2013

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Thomas, E., Burock, D., Knudsen, K., Deterding, E., & Yadin, E.
Affiliations
Bryn Mawr College (US)
Corresponding author
Thomas, Earl
Venue
Neuroscience Letters
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2013-08
Volume
548
Pages
269-274
ISSN
0304-3940 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.neulet.2013.05.078
OpenAlex
W2054376889
Cited by
23
References
22
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1
FWCI
0.91
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Neuroscience Letters (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
Keywords
lateral septum, central amygdala, single-unit activity, elevated plus maze, fear, anxiety, exposure therapy, phobia, Pavlovian extinction, fear inhibition, compensatory mechanisms
MeSH terms
Action Potentials, Amygdala, Animals, Anxiety, Behavior, Animal, Brain Mapping, Disease Models, Animal, Fear, Implosive Therapy, Male, Neurons, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Maze Learning, Septum of Brain, Rats

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review