Reverse engineering information processing in lateral amygdala during auditory tones

Learning in the mammalian lateral amygdala (LA) during auditory fear conditioning (tone - foot shock pairing), one form of associative learning, requires N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-dependent plasticity. Despite this fact being known for more than two decades, the biophysical details related to signal flow and the involvement of the coincidence detector, NMDAR, in this learning, remain unclear. Here we use a 4000-neuron computational model of the LA (containing two types of pyramidal cells, types A and C, and two types of interneurons, fast spiking FSI and low-threshold spiking LTS) to reverse engineer changes in information flow in the amygdala that underpin such learning; with a specific focus on the role of the coincidence detector NMDAR. The model also included a Ca2s based learning rule for synaptic plasticity. The physiologically constrained model provides insights into the underlying mechanisms that implement habituation to the tone, including the role of NMDARs in generating network activity which engenders synaptic plasticity in specific afferent synapses. Specifically, model runs revealed that NMDARs in tone-FSI synapses were more important during the spontaneous state, although LTS cells also played a role. Training trails with tone only also suggested long term depression in tone-PN as well as tone-FSI synapses, providing possible hypothesis related to underlying mechanisms that might implement the phenomenon of habituation.