Cited by 736Memory and Neural MechanismsNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research

Extinction circuits for fear and addiction overlap in prefrontal cortex

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Peters, Jamie, Kalivas, Peter W., Quirk, Gregory J.·2009·Learning & Memory

Abstract

Extinction is a form of inhibitory learning that suppresses a previously conditioned response. Both fear and drug seeking are conditioned responses that can lead to maladaptive behavior when expressed inappropriately, manifesting as anxiety disorders and addiction, respectively. Recent evidence indicates that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is critical for the extinction of both fear and drug-seeking behaviors. Moreover, a dorsal-ventral distinction is apparent within the mPFC, such that the prelimbic (PL-mPFC) cortex drives the expression of fear and drug seeking, whereas the infralimbic (IL-mPFC) cortex suppresses these behaviors after extinction. For conditioned fear, the dorsal-ventral dichotomy is accomplished via divergent projections to different subregions of the amygdala, whereas for drug seeking, it is accomplished via divergent projections to the subregions of the nucleus accumbens. Given that the mPFC represents a common node in the extinction circuit for these behaviors, treatments that target this region may help alleviate symptoms of both anxiety and addictive disorders by enhancing extinction memory.

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  • Drug-cue extinction is believed to involve neurons in the PFC.

    “Like fear extinction, drug-cue extinction is believed to involve neurons in the PFC (59).”
  • Dysfunction of vmPFC is thought to be critical in anxiety disorders such as PTSD, depression, counterproductive motivation in drug addiction, and dysregulation of autonomic and endocrine systems related to chronic stress and pain.

    “Dysfunction of the vmPFC is thought to be critical in anxiety disorders such as PTSD [10] (Figure 1vw), depression [79] (figure 1x), counterproductive motivation in drug addiction [80], and dysregulation of autonomic and endocrine systems related to chronic stress [12] and pain [13].”
  • Recent evidence links PL and rdACC to appetitive drug-seeking behavior, which argues in favor of a process account of the rdACC/vmPFC distinction.

    “Recent evidence linking PL and rdACC to appetitive, drug seeking behavior [80] argues in favor of a process account.”

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. LaRowe, S.D., Myrick, H., Malcolm, R., and Kalivas, P. 2005. Cue reactivity and neuroimaging in cocaine-dependent subjects: A double-blind placebo-controlled pilot study involving N-acetylcysteine. In Proceedings of the 35th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. Washington, DC.

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Authors
Peters, J., Kalivas, P. W., & Quirk, G. J.
Affiliations
  • University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus (PR)
  • Medical University of South Carolina (US)
Venue
Learning & Memory
Published
2009-04-20
Volume
16
Issue
5
Pages
279-288
ISSN
  • 1072-0502 (ISSN-L)
  • 1549-5485
OpenAlex
W2100804779
Cited by
736
References
196
Citations by year
2026: 20 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 42 · 2021: 47 · 2020: 48 · 2019: 52 · 2018: 58 · 2017: 54 · 2016: 55 · 2015: 51 · 2014: 67 · 2013: 49 · 2012: 46
Type
posted content
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Learning & Memory (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (1f32da005369-01, 5r01mh081975-05, MH058883)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (MH05383, MH-058883, R01-MH081975, F32MH085383, R01MH058883, R37MH058883, MH081975, R29MH058883)
  • National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA012513, R01DA012513, DA005369)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
Keywords
extinction learning, fear extinction, medial prefrontal cortex, prelimbic cortex, infralimbic cortex, amygdala projections, anxiety disorders, addiction, memory extinction, inhibitory learning
MeSH terms
Animals, Brain Mapping, Extinction, Psychological, Fear, Humans, Neural Pathways, Prefrontal Cortex, Substance-Related Disorders

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