Regulation of amygdalar PKA by β-arrestin-2/phosphodiesterase-4 complex is critical for fear conditioning.

β-arrestins. key regulators of receptor signaling, are highly expressed in the central nervous system, but their roles in brain physiology are largely unknown. Here we show that β-arrestin-2 is critically involved in the formation of associative fear memory and amygdalar synaptic plasticity. In response to fear conditioning. β-arrestin-2 translocates to amygdalar membrane where it interacts with PDE-4, a cAMP-degrading enzyme, to inhibit PKA activation. Arrb2^-/- mice exhibit impaired conditioned fear memory and long-term potentiation at the lateral amygdalar synapses. Moreover, expression of the β-arrestin-2 in the lateral amygdala of Arrb2^-/- mice, but not its mutant form that is incapable of binding PDE-4, restores basal PKA activity and rescues conditioned fear memory. Taken together, our data demonstrate that the feedback regulation of amygdalar PKA activation by β-arrestin-2 and PDE-4 complex is critical for the formation of conditioned fear memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America is the property of National Academy of Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)