ArticleNature communications2022
Insular cortical circuits as an executive gateway to decipher threat or extinction memory via distinct subcortical pathways.
Article in Nature communications, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
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Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 54 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dissociable control of depression and visceral pain by the pICNeuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Targeting the KCNC3-Dependent Anterior Insular-Lateral Orbitofrontal Cortex Glutamatergic Circuit Attenuates Post-Traumatic Anxiety.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Article
- Mild concussion impairs extinction of avoidance and alters respective brain circuits in male rats.Experimental neurology · 2026Article
- Circuit-informed modulation of traumatic memory in PTSD: integrating extinction, suppression, and reconsolidation.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- GABA signaling in NG2 glia mediates empathy-like behavior under observational social defeat.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Reduced MOV10 reveals novel functional cortical connections in an increased fear response.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Neuropeptide Y co-opts neuronal ensembles for memory lability and stability.Nature neuroscience · 2026Article
- Social reward outcompetes drug seeking dopaminergic ensembles to prevent relapse.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Identification of somatostatinProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Unconscious Fear Requires Attention to Distort Vision in Safe Context.Neuroscience bulletin · 2026Article
- Review
- Time-Dependent Therapeutic Effect of S-Ketamine on PTSD Mediated by VTA-OFC Dopaminergic Neurocircuit.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Igfbp2 Downregulation in PVT-CeA Glutamatergic Circuits Drives Neonatal Anesthesia-Induced Fear Memory Deficits.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Dysfunction of the paraventricular thalamus-prelimbic cortex circuit underlies maternal separation-induced deficits in contagious pain.Science advances · 2025Article
- Regulation of addiction by the insular cortex: The interplay between interoception and cognitive function.iScience · 2025Review
- Modulation of social valence by insular cortex activity during acute social isolation in mice.Molecular brain · 2025Article
- How Fear Memory is Updated: From Reconsolidation to Extinction?Neuroscience bulletin · 2025Review
- Whole-brain mapping of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons reveals a long-range reciprocal input-output loop between distinct subtypes.Science advances · 2025Article
- Fronto-occipital dyscommunication associates with brain hierarchy in schizophrenia.Communications biology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
20 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Threat and extinction memories are crucial for organisms' survival in changing environments. These memories are believed to be encoded by separate ensembles of neurons in the brain, but their whereabouts remain elusive. Using an auditory fear-conditioning and extinction paradigm in male mice, here we discovered that two distinct projection neuron subpopulations in physical proximity within the insular cortex (IC), targeting the central amygdala (CeA) and nucleus accumbens (NAc), respectively, to encode fear and extinction memories. Reciprocal intracortical inhibition of these two IC subpopulations gates the emergence of either fear or extinction memory. Using rabies-virus-assisted tracing, we found IC-NAc projection neurons to be preferentially innervated by intercortical inputs from the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), specifically enhancing extinction to override fear memory. These results demonstrate that IC serves as an operation node harboring distinct projection neurons that decipher fear or extinction memory under the top-down executive control from OFC.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.