Recordings from retrorubral field neurons in male rats undergoing fear discrimination

These data were collected from the retrorubral field (RRF) of 11 adult male Long Evans rats using 16 wire drivable microelectrode bundles. Data include 743 single units recorded from 228 behavior sessions. Fear discrimination sessions consisted of 16 trials with a mean inter-trial interval of 3.5 min. Auditory cues were 10 s in duration and consisted of repeating motifs of a broadband click, phaser, or trumpet. Each cue was associated with a unique probability of foot shock (0.5 mA, 0.5 s): danger, p = 1.00; uncertainty, p = 0.25; and safety, p = 0.00. Auditory identity was counterbalanced across rats. Foot shock was administered 2 s following the termination of the auditory cue on danger and uncertainty shock trials. The order of trial type presentation was randomly determined by the behavioral program, and differed for each rat, each session. The microelectrode bundle was advanced in ~80 μm steps every other day to record from new units during the following session. Single units were collected across the entire RRF anterior-posterior span (-6.36 to -7.08), although most single units were collected from bregma levels -6.72 and -6.84. Data included are the result of spike sorting. Sample scripts used to visualize firing and behavior data from our main data file have been provided. These data have been published in Current Biology (reference below) and the complete methods are available with that publication. Moaddab M and McDannald MA. (2021) Retrorubral field is a hub for diverse threat and aversive outcome signals. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.02.055