Access

Brief Communication

Nature Neuroscience 9, 481–483 (1 April 2006) | doi:10.1038/nn1672

Fear conditioning drives profilin into amygdala dendritic spines

Raphael Lamprecht , Claudia R Farb , Sarina M Rodrigues & Joseph E LeDoux

Changes in spine morphology may underlie memory formation, but the molecular mechanisms that subserve such alterations are poorly understood. Here we show that fear conditioning in rats leads to the movement of profilin, an actin polymerization–regulatory protein, into dendritic spines in the lateral amygdala and that these spines undergo enlargements in their postsynaptic densities (PSDs).