Cortical mechanisms of adaptive fear extinction underlying stress resilience (B02)

• Subject Area: Biological Psychiatry
• Term: from 2016 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 264810226

B02 investigates whether extinction of fear of complex conditioned stimuli involves primary sensory cortices. It specifically focuses on dynamic intra-cortical excitability regulation during extinction via inhibitory interneurons in the auditory cortex. Having identified the relevant interneuron types, A02 will go on to perturb the identified elements of the micro-circuitry using optogenetics, to demonstrate their causal role in extinction. Finally, B04 will investigate the sensitivity of these mechanisms to stressors, and the possibility to manipulate these mechanisms to protect animals against stressor-induced extinction deficits.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1193: Neurobiology of Resilience to stress-related mental dysfunction: from understanding mechanisms to promoting prevention
• Applicant Institution: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
• Co-Applicant Institution: Max-Planck-Institut für Hirnforschung
• Project Head: Professor Johannes Letzkus, Ph.D.