Fear extinction deficits following acute stress associate with increased spine density and dendritic retraction in basolateral amygdala neurons
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Stress-sensitive psychopathologies such as post-traumatic stress disorder are characterized by deficits in fear extinction and dysfunction of corticolimbic circuits mediating extinction. Chronic stress facilitates fear conditioning, impairs extinction, and produces dendritic proliferation in the basolateral amygdala (BLA), a critical site of plasticity for extinction. Acute stress impairs extinction, alters plasticity in the medial prefrontal cortex-to-BLA circuit, and causes dendritic retraction in the medial prefrontal cortex. Here, we examined extinction learning and basolateral amygdala pyramidal neuron morphology in adult male rats following a single elevated platform stress. Acute stress impaired extinction acquisition and memory, and produced dendritic retraction and increased mushroom spine density in basolateral amygdala neurons in the right hemisphere. Unexpectedly, irrespective of stress, rats that underwent fear and extinction testing showed basolateral amygdala dendritic retraction and altered spine density relative to non-conditioned rats, particularly in the left hemisphere. Thus, extinction deficits produced by acute stress are associated with increased spine density and dendritic retraction in basolateral amygdala pyramidal neurons. Furthermore, the finding that conditioning and extinction as such was sufficient to alter basolateral amygdala morphology and spine density illustrates the sensitivity of basolateral amygdala morphology to behavioral manipulation. These findings may have implications for elucidating the role of the amygdala in the pathophysiology of stress-related disorders.
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The amygdala exhibits profound functional changes as a result of chronic stress that are closely linked to attendant changes in anxiety.
“Moreover, the amygdala exhibits profound functional changes as a result of chronic stress that are closely linked to attendant changes in anxiety (5,6,9–12).”
From Chronic Stress Remodels Synapses in an Amygdala Circuit-Specific Manner (2019) · cites this paper as [11]
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- Authors
- Maroun, M., Ioannides, P. J., Bergman, K. L., Kavushansky, A., Holmes, A., & Wellman, C. L.
- Affiliations
- University of Haifa (IL)
- Indiana University Bloomington (US)
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- Corresponding author
- Maroun, Mouna
- Wellman, Cara L.
- Venue
- European Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2013-05-28
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 2611-2620
- ISSN
- 0953-816X (ISSN-L)
- 1460-9568
- PMC
- PMC3773716
- OpenAlex
- W2006050677
- Cited by
- 86
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 6.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- European Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (Z01AA000411, ZIAAA000411)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Keywords
- fear extinction, acute stress, basolateral amygdala, dendritic retraction, dendritic spine density, mushroom spines, pyramidal neurons, post-traumatic stress disorder, fear conditioning, corticolimbic circuits, stress-related disorders, neuronal morphology
- MeSH terms
- Amygdala, Animals, Extinction, Psychological, Fear, Male, Stress, Physiological, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Dendritic Spines, Rats
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