Cardozo et al. 2025 - Raw data

Localized Synaptic Potentiation is Necessary and Sufficient for Context Fear Memory

The nature and distribution of the synaptic changes that underlie memory are not well understood. We examined the synaptic mechanisms of context fear learning and found that conditioning produced potentiation of excitatory synapses specifically onto the basolateral amygdala neurons activated during learning. This synaptic potentiation lasted at least 7 days, and its disruption impaired memory recall. High-frequency optogenetic stimulation of the CS and US-activated ensembles or biochemical induction of synaptic potentiation in US-responsive neurons alone was sufficient to produce a context fear association without prior associative training. These results suggest that plasticity of CS inputs onto US-responsive amygdala neurons is a necessary and sufficient step in forming context fear associations, and that context discrimination is determined by the CS-specific amygdala inputs activated during retrieval.