Different roles of two thinking areas in updating a traumatic memory

A single injection of the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin into specific brain areas produced opposite effects on fear memory reconsolidation and extinction.

• Rapamycin infused into the prelimbic area impaired reconsolidation and facilitated extinction of traumatic fear memories.
• Intra-infralimbic rapamycin enhanced reconsolidation and impaired extinction of fear memories.
• These effects of rapamycin persisted for at least 10 days following memory reactivation.
• Shock exposure led to anxiety-like behavior and impaired working memory, which rapamycin normalized.
• Phosphorylated p70s6K levels were altered in the infralimbic and basolateral amygdala following fear retrieval, but not in the prelimbic area.

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