Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Biol Psychol. 2012 Mar;89(3):598-605. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2012.01.007. Epub 2012 Feb 7.
The process of reconsolidation has attracted much attention because of its potential application for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Here, we investigate a possible boundary condition of disrupting reconsolidation with the noradrenergic antagonist propranolol in humans. Reconsolidation can be initiated by retrieval of an acquired fear memory, which is in procedure equivalent to extinction training. If memory retrieval promotes the formation of a novel extinction memory trace, propranolol may interfere with extinction rather than with reconsolidation. Using a differential fear conditioning paradigm, we demonstrate that administration of propranolol (double-blind placebo controlled) prior to repetitive unreinforced CS presentations did not affect extinction at a physiological level (startle reflex and skin conductance). At a cognitive level, propranolol directly impaired extinction learning. These findings indicate that careful selection of timing parameters is essential to ensure that pharmacological agents interfere with the intended memory process to reduce fear.
再巩固过程因其在治疗精神障碍方面的潜在应用而引起了广泛关注。在这里，我们研究了使用去甲肾上腺素拮抗剂普萘洛尔（propranolol）人为破坏再巩固的一个可能的边界条件。再巩固可以通过检索获得的恐惧记忆来启动，这在程序上相当于进行消退训练。如果记忆检索促进了新的消退记忆痕迹的形成，那么普萘洛尔可能会干扰消退而不是再巩固。我们使用差异恐惧条件作用范式表明，在重复无强化 CS 呈现之前给予普萘洛尔（双盲安慰剂对照）并不会影响生理水平的消退（惊跳反射和皮肤电导）。在认知水平上，普萘洛尔直接损害了消退学习。这些发现表明，仔细选择时间参数对于确保药物干预预期的记忆过程以减少恐惧至关重要。
