Research axis: Synapse / Normal and pathological cognition

Research Themes (FENS): Cognition and Behaviour / Animal Cognition and Behaviour / Behavioural Pharmacology / Motivation and Motion / Neurological and Psychiatric Conditions

Scientific expertise: neural circuits / neural circuits / neocortical circuits ; prefrontal cortex ; tonsil; memory and memory system ; neural plasticity ; auditory conditioning of fear ; associative learning of appetizer type ; associative learning of aversive type ; extinction of conditional fear ; and

Technological expertise:quantitative analysis of animal behaviour; fear conditioning; electrophysiology in animals in behaviour and anaesthesia; pharmacology of memory memory; optogenetic memory

Keywords: conditioned fear / extinction / tonsil / prefrontal cortex

National and international collaborations: Pier Vincenzo Piazza - Véronique Deroche Gamonet (Bordeaux) / François Georges (Bordeaux) / Manuel Mameli (Paris) / Yann Humeau (Bordeaux) / Andreas Lüthi (Bäle) / Karim Nader (Montréal).

Financial Support: ERC starting grant-NEUROFEAR

Research project:
Our main research project concerns the identification of the functional, anatomical and physiological properties of neural circuits involved in controlling emotional responses to fear. This project is based on a very innovative multi-level approach that combines electrophysiological recording techniques, selective optogenic manipulations and behavioural approaches. In a first step we will examine the activation and connectivity of prefrontal excitatory and inhibitory circuits involved in the control of fear responses through the use of extracellular unit electrophysiological recordings and extracellular stimuli. In a second step, we will selectively manipulate these neural circuits during behaviour using optogenic approaches to test whether reversible activation or inhibition of neural activity within these circuits induces changes in the behavioural expression of fear responses. Finally, we will use intracellular recordings in the anesthetized animal to study the plasticity and anatomical properties of the prefrontal neural circuits involved in controlling fear behaviour. The results obtained will provide detailed knowledge of the cellular bases of fear behaviour in particular and behavioural control in general. In addition, the identification of neural circuits controlling fear behaviour should also allow the development of new therapeutic strategies for pathologies such as post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety disorders.