Abstract
Disrupting reconsolidation may be promising in the treatment of anxiety disorders but the fear-reducing effects are thus far solely demonstrated in the average organism. A relevant question is whether disrupting fear memory reconsolidation is less effective in individuals who are vulnerable to develop an anxiety disorder. By collapsing data from six previous human fear conditioning studies we tested whether trait anxiety was related to the fear-reducing effects of a pharmacological agent targeting the process of memory reconsolidation - n = 107. Testing included different phases across three consecutive days each separated by 24 h. Fear responding was measured by the eye-blink startle reflex. Disrupting the process of fear memory reconsolidation was manipulated by administering the β-adrenergic receptor antagonist propranolol HCl either before or after memory retrieval. Trait anxiety uniquely predicted the fear-reducing effects of disrupting memory reconsolidation: the higher the trait anxiety, the less fear reduction. Vulnerable individuals with the propensity to develop anxiety disorders may need higher dosages of propranolol HCl or more retrieval trials for targeting and changing fear memory. Our finding clearly demonstrates that we cannot simply translate observations from fundamental research on fear reduction in the average organism to clinical practice.
Highlights
Formed memories are initially ‘‘labile’’ and susceptible to disruption before being consolidated into stable long-term memories [1]
Startle fear responding remained relatively stable from the last trial of acquisition to memory reactivation which further demonstrates that the acquired fear memory was well consolidated in the various propranolol HCl groups [CSa vs. NA; stimulus6trial6study, F5,100,1]
Exposure to the reminder shocks failed to uncover any differential startle fear responding in all of the propranolol HCl groups [CSa vs. CSb; stimulus6trial F1,88,2.54; stimulus6trial6study, F4, 88,1]. Together these findings indicate that the reconsolidation of the CSa fear memory was disrupted by the propranolol HCl manipulation in the various experiments
Summary
Formed memories are initially ‘‘labile’’ and susceptible to disruption before being consolidated into stable long-term memories [1]. Last years have witnessed rapidly emerging evidence for the plasticity of memories. Upon their retrieval consolidated memories may temporarily return into a labile state requiring de novo protein synthesis for restabilization [5,6]. Interfering with this restabilization process through pharmacological agents is referred to as disrupting reconsolidation and enables the modification of the original memory representation [5,7]. A substantial body of animal and human research indicates that a permanent reduction of fear may be realized through targeting the process of reconsolidation [5,8]. An important step towards advancing this basic research into clinical application would be to incorporate individual differences
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
