# The role of basal forebrain GABAergic neurons in fear expression and inhibition.

> **NIH NIH F99** · ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI · 2020 · $44,920

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Heightened threat response and dysregulation of emotional learning and memory are key characteristics of
fear-related disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder. The basal forebrain (BF) is considered a crucial
structure in the regulation of fear learning and memory through the modulation of arousal, vigilance, and
motivation salience. However, the role of specific BF cell types in the expression of conditioned fear behaviors
remains unclear. Gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA)-containing neurons are one of the most abundant BF cell
types, are activated in response to threat-predictive cues, and project broadly throughout the brain. More
importantly they project to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and basolateral amygdala (BLA) which are
essential brain regions in fear association and expression. In this proposal I will investigate the role of BF
GABAergic neurons and their long-range projections in cued fear expression and inhibition. In Aim 1 I
investigated the contribution of BF GABAergic activity on expression and extinction of cued fear memory. My
research revealed a time-dependent role for this population in cue-evoked freezing, wherein GABAergic
activity was required for memory expression at remote but not early time points after learning. For Aim 2 I will
examine BF GABAergic projections to the BLA and mPFC during fear expression. For Exp. 2.1 and Exp. 2.2 I
will use in vivo calcium imaging and optogenetic approaches to assesses the role basal forebrain projections to
mPFC and BLA during cued fear memory expression. To examine the effect of BF GABAergic afferents in
mPFC and BLA activity in Exp. 2.3, I will use in vitro electrophysiology. In Aim 3, I delineate plans for
postdoctoral research, including the identification of a postdoctoral fellowship mentor and institution, and the
use of computational methods to examine neural circuits in risk assessment behavioral assays. The results
from this proposal will broaden our understanding on inhibitory circuits that underlie fear expression and
provide an insight for how fear memory circuits shift at remote timepoints.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9987482
- **Project number:** 5F99NS113458-02
- **Recipient organization:** ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI
- **Principal Investigator:** Ciorana Roman Ortiz
- **Activity code:** F99 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $44,920
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-07-31 → 2021-10-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9987482

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9987482, The role of basal forebrain GABAergic neurons in fear expression and inhibition. (5F99NS113458-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9987482. Licensed CC0.

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