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Meamar M, Rashidy-Pour A, Rahmani M, Vafaei AA, Raise-Abdullahi P. Glucocorticoid- β-adrenoceptors interactions in the infralimbic cortex in acquisition and consolidation of auditory fear memory extinction in rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2023; 225:173560. [PMID: 37094708 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2023.173560] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2023] [Revised: 04/17/2023] [Accepted: 04/19/2023] [Indexed: 04/26/2023]
Abstract
This study investigated the interactive effect of glucocorticoid and β-adrenoceptors in the infralimbic (IL) cortex on the acquisition and consolidation of fear extinction in rats' auditory fear conditioning (AFC) task. On day 1, rats underwent habituation for 9 min (12 tonnes, 10 s, 4 kHz, 80 dB, without footshock). On day 2 (conditioning), rats received 3 mild electrical footshocks (US; 2 s, 0.5 mA) paired with the auditory-conditioned stimulus (CS; tone: 30 s, 4 kHz, 80 dB). On days 3-5 (Ext 1-3), rats received 15 tonnes with no footshock in the test box. Intra-IL injection of corticosterone (CORT, 20 ng/0.5 μl per side) before Ext 1 and after Ext 1-2, respectively, facilitated the acquisition and consolidation of fear memory extinction. Intra-IL injection of the β2-adrenoceptor agonist clenbuterol (CLEN, 50 ng/0.5 μl per side) inhibited, but the β-adrenoceptor antagonist propranolol (PROP, 500 ng/0.5 μl per side) enhanced the facilitatory effects of CORT on fear memory extinction. CORT injection before the acquisition of fear extinction increased p-ERK levels in the IL. Co-injection of CORT with CLEN increased, but PROP decreased p-ERK activities. CORT injection after the consolidation of fear extinction increased p-CREB in the IL. Co-injection of CORT with CLEN increased, but PROP reduced p-CREB activities. Our findings show that corticosterone facilitates the acquisition and consolidation of fear memory extinction. GRs and β-adrenoceptors in the IL jointly regulate fear memory extinction via ERK and CREB signaling pathways. This pre-clinical animal study may highlight the effect of GRs and β-adrenoceptors of the IL cortex in regulating fear memory processes in fear-related disorders such as PTSD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Morvarid Meamar
- Research Center of Physiology, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran
| | - Ali Rashidy-Pour
- Research Center of Physiology, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran; Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran
| | - Mehrnoush Rahmani
- Research Center of Physiology, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran
| | - Abbas Ali Vafaei
- Research Center of Physiology, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran; Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran.
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Haaker J, Maren S, Andreatta M, Merz CJ, Richter J, Richter SH, Meir Drexler S, Lange MD, Jüngling K, Nees F, Seidenbecher T, Fullana MA, Wotjak CT, Lonsdorf TB. Making translation work: Harmonizing cross-species methodology in the behavioural neuroscience of Pavlovian fear conditioning. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2019; 107:329-345. [PMID: 31521698 PMCID: PMC7822629 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.09.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2019] [Revised: 07/08/2019] [Accepted: 09/11/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Translational neuroscience bridges insights from specific mechanisms in rodents to complex functions in humans and is key to advance our general understanding of central nervous function. A prime example of translational research is the study of cross-species mechanisms that underlie responding to learned threats, by employing Pavlovian fear conditioning protocols in rodents and humans. Hitherto, evidence for (and critique of) these cross-species comparisons in fear conditioning research was based on theoretical viewpoints. Here, we provide a perspective to substantiate these theoretical concepts with empirical considerations of cross-species methodology. This meta-research perspective is expected to foster cross-species comparability and reproducibility to ultimately facilitate successful transfer of results from basic science into clinical applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Haaker
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
| | - Stephen Maren
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Institute for Neuroscience, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA
| | - Marta Andreatta
- Department of Psychology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany; Department of Psychology, Education & Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands
| | - Christian J Merz
- Ruhr University Bochum, Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Cognitive Psychology, Germany
| | - Jan Richter
- Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology/Psychotherapy, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - S Helene Richter
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Shira Meir Drexler
- Ruhr University Bochum, Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Cognitive Psychology, Germany
| | - Maren D Lange
- Institute of Physiology I, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Kay Jüngling
- Institute of Physiology I, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Frauke Nees
- Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | | | - Miquel A Fullana
- Institute of Neurosciences, Hospital Clinic, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Carsten T Wotjak
- Neuronal Plasticity Research Group, Department of Stress Neurobiology and Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, 80804, Munich, Germany
| | - Tina B Lonsdorf
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
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Baker KD, Richardson R. Pharmacological evidence that a failure to recruit NMDA receptors contributes to impaired fear extinction retention in adolescent rats. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2017; 143:18-26. [DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2016.10.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2016] [Revised: 10/12/2016] [Accepted: 10/26/2016] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
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Ponnusamy R, Zhuravka I, Poulos AM, Shobe J, Merjanian M, Huang J, Wolvek D, O'Neill PK, Fanselow MS. Retrieval and Reconsolidation Accounts of Fear Extinction. Front Behav Neurosci 2016; 10:89. [PMID: 27242459 PMCID: PMC4860411 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2015] [Accepted: 04/26/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Extinction is the primary mode for the treatment of anxiety disorders. However, extinction memories are prone to relapse. For example, fear is likely to return when a prolonged time period intervenes between extinction and a subsequent encounter with the fear-provoking stimulus (spontaneous recovery). Therefore there is considerable interest in the development of procedures that strengthen extinction and to prevent such recovery of fear. We contrasted two procedures in rats that have been reported to cause such deepened extinction. One where extinction begins before the initial consolidation of fear memory begins (immediate extinction) and another where extinction begins after a brief exposure to the consolidated fear stimulus. The latter is thought to open a period of memory vulnerability similar to that which occurs during initial consolidation (reconsolidation update). We also included a standard extinction treatment and a control procedure that reversed the brief exposure and extinction phases. Spontaneous recovery was only found with the standard extinction treatment. In a separate experiment we tested fear shortly after extinction (i.e., within 6 h). All extinction procedures, except reconsolidation update reduced fear at this short-term test. The findings suggest that strengthened extinction can result from alteration in both retrieval and consolidation processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ravikumar Ponnusamy
- Departments of Psychology, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, and The Brain Research Institute, University of California Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Irina Zhuravka
- Departments of Psychology, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, and The Brain Research Institute, University of California Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Andrew M Poulos
- Departments of Psychology, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, and The Brain Research Institute, University of California Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Justin Shobe
- Departments of Psychology, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, and The Brain Research Institute, University of California Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Michael Merjanian
- Departments of Psychology, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, and The Brain Research Institute, University of California Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Jeannie Huang
- Departments of Psychology, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, and The Brain Research Institute, University of California Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - David Wolvek
- Departments of Psychology, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, and The Brain Research Institute, University of California Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Pia-Kelsey O'Neill
- Departments of Psychology, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, and The Brain Research Institute, University of California Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Michael S Fanselow
- Departments of Psychology, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, and The Brain Research Institute, University of California Los Angeles, CA, USA
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Bukalo O, Pinard CR, Holmes A. Mechanisms to medicines: elucidating neural and molecular substrates of fear extinction to identify novel treatments for anxiety disorders. Br J Pharmacol 2014; 171:4690-718. [PMID: 24835117 DOI: 10.1111/bph.12779] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2014] [Revised: 04/28/2014] [Accepted: 05/04/2014] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The burden of anxiety disorders is growing, but the efficacy of available anxiolytic treatments remains inadequate. Cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety disorders focuses on identifying and modifying maladaptive patterns of thinking and behaving, and has a testable analogue in rodents in the form of fear extinction. A large preclinical literature has amassed in recent years describing the neural and molecular basis of fear extinction in rodents. In this review, we discuss how this work is being harnessed to foster translational research on anxiety disorders and facilitate the search for new anxiolytic treatments. We begin by summarizing the anatomical and functional connectivity of a medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC)-amygdala circuit that subserves fear extinction, including new insights from optogenetics. We then cover some of the approaches that have been taken to model impaired fear extinction and associated impairments with mPFC-amygdala dysfunction. The principal goal of the review is to evaluate evidence that various neurotransmitter and neuromodulator systems mediate fear extinction by modulating the mPFC-amygdala circuitry. To that end, we describe studies that have tested how fear extinction is impaired or facilitated by pharmacological manipulations of dopamine, noradrenaline, 5-HT, GABA, glutamate, neuropeptides, endocannabinoids and various other systems, which either directly target the mPFC-amygdala circuit, or produce behavioural effects that are coincident with functional changes in the circuit. We conclude that there are good grounds to be optimistic that the progress in defining the molecular substrates of mPFC-amygdala circuit function can be effectively leveraged to identify plausible candidates for extinction-promoting therapies for anxiety disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olena Bukalo
- Laboratory of Behavioral and Genomic Neuroscience, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, MD, USA
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Abstract
Whereas fear memories are rapidly acquired and enduring over time, extinction memories are slow to form and are susceptible to disruption. Consequently, behavioral therapies that involve extinction learning (e.g., exposure therapy) often produce only temporary suppression of fear and anxiety. This review focuses on the factors that are known to influence the relapse of extinguished fear. Several phenomena associated with the return of fear after extinction are discussed, including renewal, spontaneous recovery, reacquisition, and reinstatement. Additionally, this review describes recent work, which has focused on the role of psychological stress in the relapse of extinguished fear. Recent developments in behavioral and pharmacological research are examined in light of treatment of pathological fear in humans.
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Nature and causes of the immediate extinction deficit: a brief review. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2013; 113:19-24. [PMID: 24176924 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2013.10.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2013] [Revised: 10/17/2013] [Accepted: 10/19/2013] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Recent data in both rodents and humans suggests that the timing of extinction trials after conditioning influences the magnitude and duration of extinction. For example, administering extinction trials soon after Pavlovian fear conditioning in rats, mice, and humans results in minimal fear suppression - the so-called immediate extinction deficit. Here I review recent work examining the behavioral and neural substrates of the immediate extinction deficit. I suggest that extinction is most effective at some delay after conditioning, because brain systems involved in encoding and retrieving extinction memories function sub-optimally under stress.
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