rdf-syntax-grammar
mods:
  schema location: http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
  title info:
    title: Thalamic Coordination of Prefrontal-Hippocampal Interactions Underlying the Retrieval of Fear Extinction Memories
  name:
    name part: Totty, Michael Sean
    role:
      role term: creator
    role:
      role term: author.
  name:
    name part: Maren, Stephen
    role:
      role term: thesis advisor.
  name:
    name part: Texas A&M University
    role:
      role term: degree granting institution.
  type of resource: text
  genre: bibliography
  origin info:
    place:
      place term: txu
    date issued: 2023
    issuance: monographic
  language:
    language term: eng
  physical description:
    form: remote
    extent: 1 online resource.
  abstract: Associative learning and memory are key to survival in animals as it allows for adaptive responses to imminent threat. However, memories of traumatic events often become pathological leading to psychiatric disease, such as posttraumatic disorder (PTSD). Commonly used cognitive behavioral therapies, such as exposure therapy, aim to extinguish fear and anxiety by re-exposing individuals to reminder cues in safe and controlled settings. Unfortunately, extinction-based therapies often fail in individuals with PTSD, and moreover, there is currently only one FDA approved drug for PTSD. This necessitates a need to uncover the neural circuitry involved in fear regulation for the advancement of both cognitive behavioral therapies and targets for therapeutic agents. In this dissertation, I report a series of experiments interrogating the neural circuits underlying adaptive aversive learning and memory in rodent models using Pavlovian fear conditioning and extinction. This work focuses on the role of the thalamic nucleus reuniens in coordinating interactions between the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex in aversive learning and memory processes. In Chapter 1, I review the current landscape of the role for oscillatory activity in neural circuits in aversively motivated behavior. In Chapter 2, I show that the nucleus reuniens has a key function in fear suppression through the retrieval of ⁰́₋safe⁰́₊ extinction memories and suggest that it achieves this function by synchronizing activity between the medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. In Chapter 3, I report an experiment using fiber photometric calcium recordings of the nucleus reuniens during fear conditioning and extinction that reveals a specific role for the reuniens in saliency processing and fear suppression. Finally, in Chapter 4, I integrate these findings with the current literature and provide a general discussion of pertinent open questions regarding nucleus reuniens functions in fear regulation. The electronic v…
  note: by Michael Totty.
  note: "Major Subject: Neuroscience"
  note: Includes vita.
  note: Doctor of Philosophy Texas A&M University 2022 https://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/198114
  note: Includes bibliographical references.
  note: Text (Dissertation)
  subject:
    topic: Major Neuroscience
  subject:
    topic: Learning and Memory
  subject:
    topic: Extinction
  subject:
    topic: Thalamus
  subject:
    topic: Hippocampus
  subject:
    topic: Prefrontal cortex
  subject:
    topic: Oscillations
  subject:
    topic: Theta
  identifier: https://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/198114
  record info:
    record content source: TXA
    record creation date: 240828
    record change date: 20240829173521.8
    record identifier: in00005468729
    language of cataloging:
      language term: eng