Early metabolic changes in hippocampus and cingulate cortex after fear conditioning

Abstract

In this study, in vivo 1H MRS was employed to investigate the metabolic changes in the hippocampus and cingulate cortex of the mouse brain after conditioned-fear training. Reduced NAA:Cr was found in hippocampus and cingulate cortex, indicating the cellular dysfunction in the acute phase of fear-conditioning. An increase in Cho level indicated proliferation of neuroglia at the expense of neuronal number preceding any morphological changes. The results of this study showed that the early metabolic changes after fear-experiencing could be detected by in vivo 1H MRS prior to any significant structural alterations, which may facilitate prompt intervention in neurobiological rehabilitation.