Editor’s Pick: Exploring dopamine neurons and fear extinction

This paper by Dr. Ozge Gunduz Cinar and colleagues is an important contribution because it tackles a central question in fear extinction and its relevance to anxiety- and trauma-related disorders. By using a strong preclinical model of impaired extinction, the authors were able to probe how ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine neuron activity relates to extinction learning and retrieval, which has direct implications for understanding post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The study is particularly valuable because it reports well-executed null findings, which are critical for moving the field forward and preventing other groups from repeating the same experiments and using unnecessary animals. The use of cutting-edge approaches like fiber photometry and optogenetics makes the conclusions especially rigorous and mechanistically grounded.

Overall, this work is a model of how to thoughtfully advance science while also being transparent about results that may not fit the expected narrative.

— Jibran Khokhar, Reviewing Editor

Read the full article:

Altered dopamine signaling in extinction-deficient mice
Ozge Gunduz-Cinar, Eva Maria Fritz, Maya Xia, Elise Van Leer, Nevin Crow, Andrew Holmes, and Nicolas Singewald