Seoul National University announced on the 27th that a research team led by Professor Lee Yong-seok of the College of Medicine confirmed that fear-related memories are created or reproduced when a neural circuit connected from the cerebellum to a specific part of the brain stem is activated. The research results were published on the 22nd in the international journal ‘Cell Report’.
Damage to the cerebellum is known to affect the occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD) or autism spectrum disorder. It is unknown which area of the cerebellum interacts with other areas of the brain to cause these disorders.
The research team conducted an experiment to determine which areas of the cerebellum affect fear memory management. Using ‘fibrephotometry’ technology, which can observe the activity of neurons in living animals, they observed how neurons connected to the cerebellar nuclei are activated during fear conditioning learning and fear memory retrieval.
In addition, through optogenetic methods, neurons in the cerebellar nucleus were suppressed at each stage of learning and memory retrieval for fear conditioning. Through this, it was confirmed when these neurons were activated.
As a result of the analysis, it was newly revealed that the activation of the neural circuit connected from the cerebellum to the ‘lateral paralimbic nucleus’ of the brain stem is essential for fear memory reproduction. It was confirmed that the so-called ‘cerebellar nucleus-lateral paralimbic nucleus neural circuit’ mediates the transmission of glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter. The research team also confirmed that the activation of the lateral parabrachial nucleus neural circuit enhanced by fear conditioning learning might in itself induce a fear response.
The research team said, “This study went beyond the existing amygdala-centered fear/anxiety emotional function research and dealt with fear/anxiety emotional function at the whole brain level.” It is expected to help understand degradation and provide specific therapeutic targets.”
![Observation of composition and synaptic plasticity of cerebellar nucleus-lateral parabrachial nucleus neural circuit and identification of functional role for fear conditioning learning Source: [BRIC Bio통신원] Identification of neural circuits in which the cerebellum regulates fear memory. Provided by Seoul National University](https://image.dongascience.com/Photo/2023/03/2f948feeab1ff0cbf31e576146402ddc.png)
Schematic diagram of a study confirming the composition of the cerebellar nucleus-lateral parabrachial nucleus neural circuit related to fear memory. Provided by Seoul National University
