Abby Ying Ding1,2, Iris Y. Zhou1,2,
Qi Li3,4, Grainne M. McAlonan3,4, Ed X. Wu1,2
1Laboratory of Biomedical
Imaging & Signal Processing, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong
Kong SAR, China, People's Republic of; 2Department of Electrical
& Electronic Engineering, the University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong, Hong
Kong SAR, China, People's Republic of; 3Department of Psychiatry,
the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China, People's
Republic of; 4Centre for Reproduction Growth & Development,
the University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China, People's
Republic of
Fear conditioning is widely used to study the neural basis of learning and memory. Neural and cellular changes associated with learning memory have been suggested in specific regions by behavioral and histological studies. We employ DTI to assess the acute changes following fear conditioning. Significant FA changes were found in specific regions such as fimbria, amygdala, hippocampus, cingulum and piriform cortex. Our results indicated that plasticity began shortly after fear learning in limbic and white matter regions, and DTI is a valuable tool for detecting such microstructural plasticity.
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