QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, September 13, 2006, 26(37):9560-9566; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2397-06.2006

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental data Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (39) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Cai, W.-H. Articles by Powell, C. M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Cai, W.-H. Articles by Powell, C. M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Postreactivation Glucocorticoids Impair Recall of Established Fear Memory

Wen-Hui Cai,^1,2 * Jacqueline Blundell,^3 * Jie Han,¹ Robert W. Greene,^1,2 and Craig M. Powell^1,3

¹Psychiatry, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390-9070, ²Psychiatry, The Veterans Affairs Hospital, Dallas, Texas 75216, and ³Neurology, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390-8813

Correspondence should be addressed to Robert W. Greene, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390-9070. Email: robertw.greene{at}utsouthwestern.edu

Pavlovian fear conditioning provides one of the best rodent models of acquired anxiety disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder. Injection of a variety of drugs after training in fear-conditioning paradigms can impair consolidation of fear memories. Indeed, early clinical trials suggest that immediate administration of such drugs after a traumatic event may decrease the risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder in humans (Pitman et al., 2002; Vaiva et al., 2003). The use of such a treatment is limited by the difficulty of treating every patient at risk and by the difficulty in predicting which patients will experience chronic adverse consequences. Recent clinical trials suggest that administration of glucocorticoids may have a beneficial effect on established posttraumatic stress disorder (Aerni et al., 2004) and specific phobia (Soravia et al., 2006). Conversely, glucocorticoid administration after training is known to enhance memory consolidation (McGaugh and Roozendaal, 2002; Roozendaal, 2002). From a clinical perspective, enhancement of a fear memory or a reactivated fear memory would not be desirable. We report here that when glucocorticoids are administered immediately after reactivation of a contextual fear memory, subsequent recall is significantly diminished. Additional experiments support the interpretation that glucocorticoids not only decrease fear memory retrieval but, in addition, augment consolidation of fear memory extinction rather than decreasing reconsolidation. These findings provide a rodent model for a potential treatment of established acquired anxiety disorders in humans, as suggested by others (Aerni et al., 2004; Schelling et al., 2004), based on a mechanism of enhanced extinction.

Key words: learning; memory; reconsolidation; consolidation; fear conditioning; recall; extinction; glucocorticoid

---

Received Oct. 19, 2005; revised Aug. 7, 2006; accepted Aug. 7, 2006.

Correspondence should be addressed to Robert W. Greene, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390-9070. Email: robertw.greene{at}utsouthwestern.edu

This article has been cited by other articles:

				E. M. Prager and L. R. Johnson Stress at the Synapse: Signal Transduction Mechanisms of Adrenal Steroids at Neuronal Membranes Sci. Signal., September 1, 2009; 2(86): re5 - re5. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Zhong, S.-C. Chuang, R. Bianchi, W. Zhao, H. Lee, A. A. Fenton, R. K. S. Wong, and H. Tiedge BC1 Regulation of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor-Mediated Neuronal Excitability J. Neurosci., August 12, 2009; 29(32): 9977 - 9986. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				X.-Y. Wang, M. Zhao, U. E. Ghitza, Y.-Q. Li, and L. Lu Stress Impairs Reconsolidation of Drug Memory via Glucocorticoid Receptors in the Basolateral Amygdala J. Neurosci., May 21, 2008; 28(21): 5602 - 5610. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help