Development of the fear response: From behavior to brain

Christoph P. Wiedenmayer, PhD Phone: 543 5973, Room: 4917A Lab Members Alexei Chemiakine, MS; Patricia Kabitzke, BS; Brian Davis, B.S.; Thomas Blair Collaborators Gordon A. Barr, PhD

 

During early life, the nervous system undergoes structural and functional changes. Such developmental plasticity may allow the animal to deal with a rapidly changing environment. Developmental plasticity may, on the other hand, result in neurobehavioral alterations that are associated with psychopathologies such as anxiety disorders later in life. Knowledge of the molecular and neural processes underlying changes in behavior is crucial in our understanding of the extent and limits of developmental plasticity. We investigate the endocrine and behavioral responses to threat in young animals and how these responses change during the first couple of weeks of life. An ethological approach provides a framework to describe and analyze behavioral responses to ecologically salient stimuli. A neurobiological approach guides the investigation of the neural substrates that underlie endocrine and behavioral responses to threat. An ontogenetic approach helps to explain these changes in brain and behavior during the different stages of development.

Selected publications:

Chen, S.W.C., Schemyakin, A., Wiedenmayer, C.P. (2006) The role of the amygdala and olfaction in unconditioned fear in developing rats. Journal of Neuroscience, 26: 233-240.

Wiedenmayer, C.P., Magarinos, A.M., McEwen, B.S., Barr, G.A. (2005) Age-specific threats induce CRF expression in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and hippocampus of young rats. Hormones and Behavior, 47: 139-150.

Wiedenmayer, C.P. (2004) Adaptations or pathologies? Long-term changes in brain and behavior after a single exposure to severe threat. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 28: 1-12.À

Wiedenmayer, C.P., Magarinos, A.M., McEwen, B.S., Barr, G.A. (2003) Mother lowers glucocorticoid levels of preweaning rats after acute threat. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1008: 304-307.

Wiedenmayer, C. P., Lyo, D. & Barr, G. A. (2003) Rat pups reduce ultrasonic vocalization after exposure to an adult male rat. Developmental Psychobiology, 42: 386-391.

Wiedenmayer, C. P., Noailles, P.A.H., Angulo, J.A. & Barr, G. A. (2002) Stress-induced preproenkephalin mRNA expression in the amygdala changes during early ontogeny in the rat. Neuroscience, 114: 7-11.

Wiedenmayer, C. P. & Barr, G. A. (2001) Developmental changes in c-fos expression to an age-specific social stressor in infant rats. Behavioural Brain Research, 126: 147-157.

Wiedenmayer, C. P. & Barr, G. A. (2001) Developmental changes in responsivity to threat are stimulus-specific in rats. Developmental Psychobiology, 39: 1-7.

Wiedenmayer, C. P. & Barr, G. A. (2000) Opioid receptors in the ventrolateral periaqueductal gray mediate stress-induced analgesia but not immobility in rat pups. Behavioral Neuroscience, 114: 125-136.

Wiedenmayer, C. P., Goodwin, G. A. & Barr, G. A. (2000) The effect of periaqueductal gray lesions on responses to age-specific threats in infant rats. Developmental Brain Research, 120: 191-198.

Wiedenmayer, C. P., Myers, M. M., Mayford, M. & Barr, G. A. (2000) Olfactory based spatial learning in neonatal mice and its dependence on CaMKII. NeuroReport, 11: 1051-1055.