Bidirectional effects of cannabidiol on contextual fear memory extinction
Cannabidiol (CBD) has been established to have both acute and long-lasting effects to reduce fear memory expression. The long-lasting impact might be mediated by an enhancement of memory extinction or an impairment of memory reconsolidation. Here, we directly compared the effects of i.p. injections...
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Frontiers Media
2016
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39134/ |
| _version_ | 1848795771252506624 |
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| author | Song, Chenchen Stevenson, Carl W. Guimaraes, Francisco S. Lee, Jonathan L.C. |
| author_facet | Song, Chenchen Stevenson, Carl W. Guimaraes, Francisco S. Lee, Jonathan L.C. |
| author_sort | Song, Chenchen |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Cannabidiol (CBD) has been established to have both acute and long-lasting effects to reduce fear memory expression. The long-lasting impact might be mediated by an enhancement of memory extinction or an impairment of memory reconsolidation. Here, we directly compared the effects of i.p. injections of cannabidiol (10 mg/kg) with those of the NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801 (0.1 mg/kg) and partial agonist D-cycloserine (DCS; 15 mg/kg) in order to determine the mnemonic basis of long-term fear reduction. We showed that under conditions of strong fear conditioning, CBD reduced contextual fear memory expression both acutely during the extinction session as well as later at a fear retention test. The latter test reduction was replicated by DCS, but MK-801 instead elevated test freezing. In contrast, when initial conditioning was weaker, CBD and MK-801 had similar effects to increase freezing at the fear retention test relative to vehicle controls, whereas DCS had no observable impact. This pattern of results is consistent with CBD enhancing contextual fear memory extinction when the initial conditioning is strong, but impairing extinction when conditioning is weak. This bidirectional effect of CBD may be related to stress levels induced by conditioning and evoked at retrieval during extinction, rather than the strength of the memory per se. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:37:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-39134 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:37:23Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media |
| recordtype | eprints |
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| spelling | nottingham-391342020-05-04T18:25:32Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39134/ Bidirectional effects of cannabidiol on contextual fear memory extinction Song, Chenchen Stevenson, Carl W. Guimaraes, Francisco S. Lee, Jonathan L.C. Cannabidiol (CBD) has been established to have both acute and long-lasting effects to reduce fear memory expression. The long-lasting impact might be mediated by an enhancement of memory extinction or an impairment of memory reconsolidation. Here, we directly compared the effects of i.p. injections of cannabidiol (10 mg/kg) with those of the NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801 (0.1 mg/kg) and partial agonist D-cycloserine (DCS; 15 mg/kg) in order to determine the mnemonic basis of long-term fear reduction. We showed that under conditions of strong fear conditioning, CBD reduced contextual fear memory expression both acutely during the extinction session as well as later at a fear retention test. The latter test reduction was replicated by DCS, but MK-801 instead elevated test freezing. In contrast, when initial conditioning was weaker, CBD and MK-801 had similar effects to increase freezing at the fear retention test relative to vehicle controls, whereas DCS had no observable impact. This pattern of results is consistent with CBD enhancing contextual fear memory extinction when the initial conditioning is strong, but impairing extinction when conditioning is weak. This bidirectional effect of CBD may be related to stress levels induced by conditioning and evoked at retrieval during extinction, rather than the strength of the memory per se. Frontiers Media 2016-12-16 Article PeerReviewed Song, Chenchen, Stevenson, Carl W., Guimaraes, Francisco S. and Lee, Jonathan L.C. (2016) Bidirectional effects of cannabidiol on contextual fear memory extinction. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 7 (493). pp. 1-7. ISSN 1663-9812 Memory Extinction Fear Contextual Cannabinoid http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphar.2016.00493/full doi:10.3389/fphar.2016.00493 doi:10.3389/fphar.2016.00493 |
| spellingShingle | Memory Extinction Fear Contextual Cannabinoid Song, Chenchen Stevenson, Carl W. Guimaraes, Francisco S. Lee, Jonathan L.C. Bidirectional effects of cannabidiol on contextual fear memory extinction |
| title | Bidirectional effects of cannabidiol on contextual fear
memory extinction |
| title_full | Bidirectional effects of cannabidiol on contextual fear
memory extinction |
| title_fullStr | Bidirectional effects of cannabidiol on contextual fear
memory extinction |
| title_full_unstemmed | Bidirectional effects of cannabidiol on contextual fear
memory extinction |
| title_short | Bidirectional effects of cannabidiol on contextual fear
memory extinction |
| title_sort | bidirectional effects of cannabidiol on contextual fear
memory extinction |
| topic | Memory Extinction Fear Contextual Cannabinoid |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39134/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39134/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39134/ |