# Development and Sex Differentiation of Context Fear Neural Circuits

> **NIH NIH R01** · STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT ALBANY · 2022 · $378,485

## Abstract

Understanding the post-natal emergence and progression of episodic/hippocampal based and
affective/amygdala based learning and memory systems in male and female animals can lead
to significant advances in education, anxiety disoders and a detailed understanding of neural
basis of learning and memory. We start off with the basic observation that learning and
memory in children and young animals are particulary distinct when compared to adult
mammalian counterparts. Our central hypothesis is that early in development, affective neural
circuits dominate learning and that later, cognitive neural circuits emerge to further regulate
learned behaviors. Moreover, the development and function of each these memory systems are
influenced by perinatal gonadal hormones, resulting in sex differentiation of learning and
memory.
This hypothesis is grounded in the knowledge that late maturing hippocampal and prefrontal
cortical circuits are fine-tuned to encode patterns of contextual-spatial elements and at test are
capable to sufficiently retrieve this same pattern of elements.This pattern completion view of
perceptual learning is combined with the knowledge that the basolateral and central amygdala
microcircuits emerge earlier in development and are crucial for emotional learning including
fear.
We approach these questions by using standard and modified Contextual Fear Conditioning
procedures in combination with neuroanatomical tools to create whole-brain functional neural
acitivity maps underlying learning and memory across developmental lifespan of the male and
female rat. These data will be used to create an open access database of all raw data,
functional maps and group analytics. In addition, these data will be used to target inactivation of
key neural pathways in the acquisition, retention and retriveal of contextual fear memories.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10319976
- **Project number:** 5R01MH114961-04
- **Recipient organization:** STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT ALBANY
- **Principal Investigator:** ANDREW M POULOS
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $378,485
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-01 → 2023-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10319976

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10319976, Development and Sex Differentiation of Context Fear Neural Circuits (5R01MH114961-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10319976. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*