Arenos Jeremy D, Musty Richard E, Bucci David J
Department of Psychology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA.
Eur J Pharmacol. 2006 Jun 13;539(3):177-83. doi: 10.1016/j.ejphar.2006.04.017. Epub 2006 Apr 27.
The endocannabinoid system appears to have an important role in specific aspects of learning and memory, yet there has been no systematic study of the role of cannabinoid receptors in contextual fear conditioning. The present study examined the effects of cannabinoid CB(1) receptor blockade on the acquisition, consolidation, and expression of contextual fear using the selective cannabinoid CB(1) receptor antagonist AM251. AM251 produced a decrease in the expression of contextual fear when administered prior to training, testing, or both. This effect was observed when footshock was signaled by an auditory cue but not in an unsignaled shock version of the task. Moreover, blocking cannabinoid CB(1) receptors had no effect on consolidation of contextual memory regardless of the conditioning paradigm. These data indicate that inhibition of cannabinoid CB(1) receptors produces specific deficits in processing contextual information and that the effects of CB(1) antagonists on contextual learning may differ from effects on other types of learning.
内源性大麻素系统似乎在学习和记忆的特定方面发挥着重要作用，然而，尚未有关于大麻素受体在情境恐惧条件反射中作用的系统性研究。本研究使用选择性大麻素CB(1)受体拮抗剂AM251，研究了大麻素CB(1)受体阻断对情境恐惧的获得、巩固和表达的影响。在训练前、测试前或两者之前给予AM251，会使情境恐惧的表达减少。当足部电击由听觉提示发出信号时观察到了这种效应，但在该任务的无信号电击版本中未观察到。此外，无论条件范式如何，阻断大麻素CB(1)受体对情境记忆的巩固均无影响。这些数据表明大麻素CB(1)受体的抑制在处理情境信息时会产生特定缺陷，并且CB(1)拮抗剂对情境学习的影响可能与对其他类型学习的影响不同。
