Injections of corticotropin-releasing factor into the periaqueductal gray enhance Pavlovian fear conditioning

摘要: Two experiments were conducted to determine if central administration of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) could influence the acquisition a conditional fear response. In first experiment, rats received either CRF (1.0 µg) or saline into lateral ventricle prior Pavlovian conditioning. Twenty-four hours later, freezing shock-associated context and discrete stimulus was measured. Subjects that conditioning engaged in more behavior both types stimuli than did controls. second (0.4 ventral area midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG) Direct application PAG also produced an enhancement contextual stimuli. These results suggest is capable modulating responses through neural system includes PAG.