Contextual fear conditioning with a time interval induces CREB phosphorylation in the dorsal hippocampus and amygdala nuclei that depend on prelimbic cortex activity

Abstract In temporal associations, a conditioned stimulus (CS) is separated by a time interval from the unconditioned stimulus (US), which activates the prelimbic cortex (PL) to maintain a CS representation over time. However, it is unknown whether the PL participates, besides the encoding, in the memory consolidation, and thus directly, with activity‐dependent changes or indirectly, by modulation of activity‐dependent changes in other brain regions. We investigated brain regions supporting the consolidation of associations with intervals and the influence of PL activity in this consolidation process. For this, we observed in Wistar rats the effect of pre‐training PL inactivation by muscimol in CREB (cAMP response element‐binding protein) phosphorylation, which is essential for memory consolidation, in subdivisions of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), hippocampus, and amygdala 3 h after the training in the contextual fear conditioning (CFC) or CFC with 5‐s interval (CFC‐5s), fear associations without or with an interval between the CS and US, respectively. Both the CFC‐5s and CFC training increased phosphorylation of CREB in the PL and infralimbic cortex (IL); lateral (LA) and basolateral (BLA) amygdala; dorsal CA1 (dCA1); dorsal (dDG), and ventral dentate gyrus, and the CFC‐5s training in the central amygdala (CEA). PL activity was necessary for the CREB phosphorylation in the PL, BLA, CEA, dCA1, and dDG only in animals trained in the CFC‐5s. The cingulate cortex, ventral CA1, and ventral subiculum did not have learning‐induced phosphorylation of CREB. These results suggest that the mPFC, hippocampus, and amygdala support the consolidation of associations with or without intervals and that PL activity influences consolidation in the dorsal hippocampus and amygdala in temporal associations. Thereby, the PL contributes directly and indirectly by modulation to memory consolidation. The time interval engaged the PL early in recent memory consolidation. Results expanded PL's role beyond the time interval and remote memory consolidation.