Disrupting Reconsolidation of Fear Memory in Humans by a Noradrenergic β-Blocker

The basic design used in our human fear-conditioning studies on disrupting reconsolidation includes testing over different phases across three consecutive days. On day 1 - the fear acquisition phase, healthy participants are exposed to a series of picture presentations. One picture stimulus (CS1+) i...

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Main Authors:	Kindt, Merel, Soeter, Marieke, Sevenster, Dieuwke
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	MyJove Corporation 2014
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4396967/

id	pubmed-4396967
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-43969672015-04-23 Disrupting Reconsolidation of Fear Memory in Humans by a Noradrenergic β-Blocker Kindt, Merel Soeter, Marieke Sevenster, Dieuwke Behavior The basic design used in our human fear-conditioning studies on disrupting reconsolidation includes testing over different phases across three consecutive days. On day 1 - the fear acquisition phase, healthy participants are exposed to a series of picture presentations. One picture stimulus (CS1+) is repeatedly paired with an aversive electric stimulus (US), resulting in the acquisition of a fear association, whereas another picture stimulus (CS2-) is never followed by an US. On day 2 - the memory reactivation phase, the participants are re-exposed to the conditioned stimulus without the US (CS1-), which typically triggers a conditioned fear response. After the memory reactivation we administer an oral dose of 40 mg of propranolol HCl, a β-adrenergic receptor antagonist that indirectly targets the protein synthesis required for reconsolidation by inhibiting the noradrenaline-stimulated CREB phosphorylation. On day 3 - the test phase, the participants are again exposed to the unreinforced conditioned stimuli (CS1- and CS2-) in order to measure the fear-reducing effect of the manipulation. This retention test is followed by an extinction procedure and the presentation of situational triggers to test for the return of fear. Potentiation of the eye blink startle reflex is measured as an index for conditioned fear responding. Declarative knowledge of the fear association is measured through online US expectancy ratings during each CS presentation. In contrast to extinction learning, disrupting reconsolidation targets the original fear memory thereby preventing the return of fear. Although the clinical applications are still in their infancy, disrupting reconsolidation of fear memory seems to be a promising new technique with the prospect to persistently dampen the expression of fear memory in patients suffering from anxiety disorders and other psychiatric disorders. MyJove Corporation 2014-12-18 /pmc/articles/PMC4396967/ /pubmed/25549103 http://dx.doi.org/10.3791/52151 Text en Copyright © 2014, Journal of Visualized Experiments http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visithttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Kindt, Merel Soeter, Marieke Sevenster, Dieuwke
spellingShingle	Kindt, Merel Soeter, Marieke Sevenster, Dieuwke Disrupting Reconsolidation of Fear Memory in Humans by a Noradrenergic β-Blocker
author_facet	Kindt, Merel Soeter, Marieke Sevenster, Dieuwke
author_sort	Kindt, Merel
title	Disrupting Reconsolidation of Fear Memory in Humans by a Noradrenergic β-Blocker
title_short	Disrupting Reconsolidation of Fear Memory in Humans by a Noradrenergic β-Blocker
title_full	Disrupting Reconsolidation of Fear Memory in Humans by a Noradrenergic β-Blocker
title_fullStr	Disrupting Reconsolidation of Fear Memory in Humans by a Noradrenergic β-Blocker
title_full_unstemmed	Disrupting Reconsolidation of Fear Memory in Humans by a Noradrenergic β-Blocker
title_sort	disrupting reconsolidation of fear memory in humans by a noradrenergic β-blocker
description	The basic design used in our human fear-conditioning studies on disrupting reconsolidation includes testing over different phases across three consecutive days. On day 1 - the fear acquisition phase, healthy participants are exposed to a series of picture presentations. One picture stimulus (CS1+) is repeatedly paired with an aversive electric stimulus (US), resulting in the acquisition of a fear association, whereas another picture stimulus (CS2-) is never followed by an US. On day 2 - the memory reactivation phase, the participants are re-exposed to the conditioned stimulus without the US (CS1-), which typically triggers a conditioned fear response. After the memory reactivation we administer an oral dose of 40 mg of propranolol HCl, a β-adrenergic receptor antagonist that indirectly targets the protein synthesis required for reconsolidation by inhibiting the noradrenaline-stimulated CREB phosphorylation. On day 3 - the test phase, the participants are again exposed to the unreinforced conditioned stimuli (CS1- and CS2-) in order to measure the fear-reducing effect of the manipulation. This retention test is followed by an extinction procedure and the presentation of situational triggers to test for the return of fear. Potentiation of the eye blink startle reflex is measured as an index for conditioned fear responding. Declarative knowledge of the fear association is measured through online US expectancy ratings during each CS presentation. In contrast to extinction learning, disrupting reconsolidation targets the original fear memory thereby preventing the return of fear. Although the clinical applications are still in their infancy, disrupting reconsolidation of fear memory seems to be a promising new technique with the prospect to persistently dampen the expression of fear memory in patients suffering from anxiety disorders and other psychiatric disorders.
publisher	MyJove Corporation
publishDate	2014
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4396967/
_version_	1613211687542849536

Disrupting Reconsolidation of Fear Memory in Humans by a Noradrenergic β-Blocker

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