Emotional Memory Reactivation in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Summary

Converging lines of evidence have implicated the amygdala in the pathophysiology of posttraumatic stress disorder. The primary purpose of our study is to assess the effect of propanolol, a beta adrenergic antagonism, on amygdala activation during a symptom provocation state in traumatized subjects with and without posttraumatic stress disorder.

Timeline

Start

2010-09

Primary completion

2011-11

Completion

2012-02

Publications

• Background Adler SA, Wilk A, Rovee-Collier C. Reinstatement versus reactivation effects on active memory in infants. J Exp Child Psychol. 2000 Feb;75(2):93-115. doi: 10.1006/jecp.1999.2531.
• Background Blanchard EB, Hickling EJ, Taylor AE, Forneris CA, Loos W, Jaccard J. Effects of varying scoring rules of the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) for the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder in motor vehicle accident victims. Behav Res Ther. 1995 May;33(4):471-5. doi: 10.1016/0005-7967(94)00064-q.
• Background Botreau F, El Massioui N, Cheruel F, Gisquet-Verrier P. Effects of medial prefrontal cortex and dorsal striatum lesions on retrieval processes in rats. Neuroscience. 2004;129(3):539-53. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2004.08.032.
• Background Boujabit M, Bontempi B, Destrade C, Gisquet-Verrier P. Exposure to a retrieval cue in rats induces changes in regional brain glucose metabolism in the amygdala and other related brain structures. Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2003 Jan;79(1):57-71. doi: 10.1016/s1074-7427(02)00010-2.
• Background Brunet A, Orr SP, Tremblay J, Robertson K, Nader K, Pitman RK. Effect of post-retrieval propranolol on psychophysiologic responding during subsequent script-driven traumatic imagery in post-traumatic stress disorder. J Psychiatr Res. 2008 May;42(6):503-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2007.05.006. Epub 2007 Jun 22.
• Background Dirikx T, Hermans D, Vansteenwegen D, Baeyens F, Eelen P. Reinstatement of extinguished conditioned responses and negative stimulus valence as a pathway to return of fear in humans. Learn Mem. 2004 Sep-Oct;11(5):549-54. doi: 10.1101/lm.78004.
• Background Ferry B, McGaugh JL. Clenbuterol administration into the basolateral amygdala post-training enhances retention in an inhibitory avoidance task. Neurobiol Learn Mem. 1999 Jul;72(1):8-12. doi: 10.1006/nlme.1998.3904.
• Background Giles J. Beta-blockers tackle memories of horror. Nature. 2005 Jul 28;436(7050):448-9. doi: 10.1038/436448a. No abstract available.
• Background Gisquet-Verrier P, Botreau F, Venero C, Sandi C. Exposure to retrieval cues improves retention performance and induces changes in ACTH and corticosterone release. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2004 May;29(4):529-56. doi: 10.1016/s0306-4530(03)00085-4.
• Background Herz RS. Are odors the best cues to memory? A cross-modal comparison of associative memory stimuli. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1998 Nov 30;855:670-4. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1998.tb10643.x.
• Background Maheu FS, Joober R, Beaulieu S, Lupien SJ. Differential effects of adrenergic and corticosteroid hormonal systems on human short- and long-term declarative memory for emotionally arousing material. Behav Neurosci. 2004 Apr;118(2):420-8. doi: 10.1037/0735-7044.118.2.420.
• Background Przybyslawski J, Roullet P, Sara SJ. Attenuation of emotional and nonemotional memories after their reactivation: role of beta adrenergic receptors. J Neurosci. 1999 Aug 1;19(15):6623-8. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.19-15-06623.1999.
• Background Quirarte GL, Roozendaal B, McGaugh JL. Glucocorticoid enhancement of memory storage involves noradrenergic activation in the basolateral amygdala. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1997 Dec 9;94(25):14048-53. doi: 10.1073/pnas.94.25.14048.
• Background Sara SJ. Retrieval and reconsolidation: toward a neurobiology of remembering. Learn Mem. 2000 Mar-Apr;7(2):73-84. doi: 10.1101/lm.7.2.73. No abstract available.
• Background Simson PE, Naylor JC, Gibson B, Schneider AM, Levin D. Dose-sensitive excitation and inhibition of spontaneous amygdala activity by propranolol. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2001 May-Jun;69(1-2):85-92. doi: 10.1016/s0091-3057(01)00503-2.
• Background Strange BA, Dolan RJ. Beta-adrenergic modulation of emotional memory-evoked human amygdala and hippocampal responses. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Aug 3;101(31):11454-8. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0404282101. Epub 2004 Jul 21.
• Background Taylor F, Cahill L. Propranolol for reemergent posttraumatic stress disorder following an event of retraumatization: a case study. J Trauma Stress. 2002 Oct;15(5):433-7. doi: 10.1023/A:1020145610914.
• Background Vaiva G, Ducrocq F, Jezequel K, Averland B, Lestavel P, Brunet A, Marmar CR. Immediate treatment with propranolol decreases posttraumatic stress disorder two months after trauma. Biol Psychiatry. 2003 Nov 1;54(9):947-9. doi: 10.1016/s0006-3223(03)00412-8.
• Background van Stegeren AH, Everaerd W, Cahill L, McGaugh JL, Gooren LJ. Memory for emotional events: differential effects of centrally versus peripherally acting beta-blocking agents. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 1998 Aug;138(3-4):305-10. doi: 10.1007/s002130050675.
• Background van Stegeren AH, Goekoop R, Everaerd W, Scheltens P, Barkhof F, Kuijer JP, Rombouts SA. Noradrenaline mediates amygdala activation in men and women during encoding of emotional material. Neuroimage. 2005 Feb 1;24(3):898-909. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.09.011.

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