Neuroscience
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Although many studies have shown that the prelimbic (PL) cortex of the mPFC is involved in the formation of conditioned freezing behavior, few have considered the acoustic response characteristics of PL cortex. Importantly, the change in auditory response characteristics of the PL cortex after conditional fear learning is largely unknown. Here we used in vivo cell-attached recordings targeting the mPFC during the waking state. ⋯ The proportion of neurons responding to noise was significantly increased, and the signal to noise ratio of the spikes were also increased. These data reveal that PL neurons themselves responded to the main information (sound intensity), while the secondary information (frequency) response was almost negligible after auditory fear conditioning. This phenomenon may be the functional basis for handling this type of emotional memory, and this response characteristic is thought to be emotional sensitization but does not change the nature of this response.