van Stegeren A H, Everaerd W, Cahill L, McGaugh J L, Gooren L J
Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 1998 Aug;138(3-4):305-10. doi: 10.1007/s002130050675.
Substantial evidence from animal research indicates that enhanced memory associated with emotional experiences involves activation of the beta-adrenergic system. This hypothesis is further supported by the finding in human subjects that blockade of beta-adrenergic receptors with propranolol selectively reduced memory for emotional events. In the present study, we compared the effects of propranolol, a lipid soluble drug which crosses the blood-brain barrier easily, with those of nadolol, a water soluble drug which crosses the blood-brain barrier to a considerably lesser extent, to determine whether the effect involved peripheral or central beta-adrenergic receptors. The effects of these drugs, taken before subjects watched a slide show that was either emotionally arousing or relatively neutral in content, were tested 1 week later with a surprise memory test. Consistent with previous results, propranolol impaired memory (recall and recognition) in the subjects who saw the emotional version of the slide show. In contrast, nadolol did not impair memory of the emotional slide show. These results indicate that the blockade of central beta-adrenergic receptors is responsible for the reduction in storage of emotional events. The results support the view that memory of a mild emotional event involves activation of central, but not necessarily peripheral beta-adrenergic receptors.
来自动物研究的大量证据表明，与情感体验相关的记忆增强涉及β-肾上腺素能系统的激活。普萘洛尔对β-肾上腺素能受体的阻断选择性地降低了人类受试者对情感事件的记忆，这一发现进一步支持了这一假设。在本研究中，我们比较了普萘洛尔（一种易于穿过血脑屏障的脂溶性药物）和纳多洛尔（一种穿过血脑屏障的程度要小得多的水溶性药物）的效果，以确定这种作用涉及外周还是中枢β-肾上腺素能受体。在受试者观看一场内容要么具有情感刺激性要么相对中性的幻灯片放映之前服用这些药物，1周后通过一次突击记忆测试来检测其效果。与之前的结果一致，普萘洛尔损害了观看情感版幻灯片放映的受试者的记忆（回忆和识别）。相比之下，纳多洛尔并未损害对情感版幻灯片放映的记忆。这些结果表明，中枢β-肾上腺素能受体的阻断是情感事件存储减少的原因。这些结果支持了这样一种观点，即轻度情感事件的记忆涉及中枢β-肾上腺素能受体的激活，但不一定涉及外周β-肾上腺素能受体的激活。
