Gating of Fear in the PFC

It is not clear how the prefrontal cortex integrates diverse inputs during the regulation of emotional responses. In an effort to gain insight into the neural circuitry underlying the expression of conditioned fear, Gregory Quirk and colleagues uncovered a prefrontal circuit whereby hippocampus gates amygdala-based fear. Interestingly, reduced hippocampal volumes have been observed in depression and PTSD, and the results presented here suggest that deficient hippocampal inhibition of PFC may contribute to emotional disorders. 

For more information, see Sotres-Bayon et al., Neuron 76(4)