Pavlovian Olfactory Fear Conditioning: Its Neural Circuity and Importance for Understanding Clinical Fear-Based Disorders

Marziah Hakim; Andrew R Battle; Arnauld Belmer; Selena E Bartlett; Luke R Johnson; Fatemeh Chehrehasa

doi:10.3389/fnmol.2019.00221

Pavlovian Olfactory Fear Conditioning: Its Neural Circuity and Importance for Understanding Clinical Fear-Based Disorders

Front Mol Neurosci. 2019 Sep 19:12:221. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2019.00221. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Marziah Hakim^{1

2

3}, Andrew R Battle^{1

2

3

4}, Arnauld Belmer^{2

3}, Selena E Bartlett^{2

3

5}, Luke R Johnson^{1

3

6

7}, Fatemeh Chehrehasa^{1

2

3

8}

Affiliations

¹ School of Biomedical Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
² Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, QLD, Australia.
³ Mater Medical Research Institute and Queensland Health, Queensland University of Technology, The University of Queensland, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia.
⁴ The University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, Translational Research Institute, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia.
⁵ School of Clinical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
⁶ Division of Psychology, School of Medicine, University of Tasmania, Launceston, TAS, Australia.
⁷ Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, School of Medicine, College of Health and Medicine, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD, United States.
⁸ Clem Jones Centre for Neurobiology and Stem Cell Research, Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia.

Abstract

Odors have proven to be the most resilient trigger for memories of high emotional saliency. Fear associated olfactory memories pose a detrimental threat of potentially transforming into severe mental illness such as fear and anxiety-related disorders. Many studies have deliberated on auditory, visual and general contextual fear memory (CFC) processes; however, fewer studies have investigated mechanisms of olfactory fear memory. Evidence strongly suggests that the neuroanatomical representation of olfactory fear memory differs from that of auditory and visual fear memory. The aim of this review article is to revisit the literature regarding the understanding of the neurobiological process of fear conditioning and to illustrate the circuitry of olfactory fear memory.

Keywords: amygdala; fear conditioning; memory; neurogenesis; neuronal circuits; olfactory; plasticity.

Publication types

Review