The effects of central injections of calcitonin gene-related peptide on fear-related behavior. Neurobiol Learn Mem 1996 Sep;66(2):241-5
Date
09/01/1996Pubmed ID
8946417DOI
10.1006/nlme.1996.0065Scopus ID
2-s2.0-0030239113 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 31 CitationsAbstract
Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) has been localized in several regions of the rat brain that are known to be important for the expression of fear responses. Some evidence suggests that CGRP may act as a neurotransmitter at synapses that are believed to be important for aversive learning. In the present study, male rats were prepared with intracerebroventricular cannulae and injected with CGRP during different phases of training and testing when a distinctive environment was paired with foot shock. When injected prior to training, CGRP directly evoked fear-related behavior and postshock freezing. When pretreated with CGRP and exposed to the shock-associated environment 24 h after training rats again showed an enhanced fear response. These results support the idea that this peptide functions as a neurotransmitter at central synapses which are important for the expression of fear.
Author List
Poore LH, Helmstetter FJAuthor
Fred Helmstetter PhD Professor in the Psychology / Neuroscience department at University of Wisconsin - MilwaukeeMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AnimalsBehavior, Animal
Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide
Fear
Injections, Spinal
Male
Rats