School of Psychology, UNSW Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
School of Psychology, UNSW Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
Horm Behav. 2020 May;121:104693. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2020.104693. Epub 2020 Feb 19.
The prevalence, severity and chronicity of anxiety disorders is significantly higher in women compared to men. Exposure therapy, the gold-standard treatment for anxiety disorders, can be modelled in the laboratory through Pavlovian fear extinction. Understanding the factors that influence fear extinction in females may aid in optimising the treatment of anxiety disorders in this population. The aim of the current study was therefore to explore the hormonal, reproductive and behavioural predictors of fear extinction recall in female rats by analysing data from nine published experiments that examined fear extinction in female rats. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that estrous cycle effects on extinction recall may be modulated by reproductive status. While the estrous phase in which nulliparous (virgin) rats undergo extinction training was predictive of extinction recall, no relationship between estrous phase and extinction recall was found among primiparous (one prior reproductive experience) rats. Moreover, estrous cycle predicted the relationship between early extinction and extinction recall in nulliparous rats, but not primiparous rats. Although reproductive status did not predict extinction recall, primiparous rats exhibited poor extinction recall relative to nulliparous rats extinguished during proestrus, and better extinction recall than nulliparous rats extinguished during metestrus. A faster rate of extinction, and lower fear responses at the end of extinction training were predictive of lower levels of CS-elicited fear during extinction recall in both nulliparous and primiparous female rats, while the length of extinction training was not predictive of extinction recall. The potential theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
与男性相比，女性焦虑障碍的患病率、严重程度和慢性程度明显更高。暴露疗法是焦虑障碍的金标准治疗方法，可以通过巴甫洛夫式恐惧消退在实验室中进行建模。了解影响女性恐惧消退的因素可能有助于优化该人群焦虑障碍的治疗。因此，本研究的目的是通过分析九项已发表的实验中检查雌性大鼠恐惧消退的数据，探讨雌性大鼠恐惧消退回忆的激素、生殖和行为预测因子。分层多元回归分析表明，发情周期对消退回忆的影响可能受到生殖状态的调节。虽然未产（处女）大鼠在接受消退训练时所处的发情期与消退回忆相关，但初产（一次先前的生殖经验）大鼠的发情期与消退回忆之间没有关系。此外，发情周期预测了未产大鼠早期消退与消退回忆之间的关系，但不预测初产大鼠的关系。尽管生殖状态不能预测消退回忆，但初产大鼠的消退回忆明显差于处于发情前期的未产大鼠，而优于处于发情后期的未产大鼠。更快的消退速度和消退训练结束时更低的恐惧反应可预测在未产和初产雌性大鼠中，在消退回忆期间 CS 引发的恐惧水平更低，而消退训练的长度不能预测消退回忆。讨论了这些发现的潜在理论和临床意义。
