L-DOPA improves extinction memory retrieval after successful fear extinction.
Psychopharmacology (Berl)
; 236(12): 3401-3412, 2019 Dec.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31243481
ABSTRACT
RATIONALE A promising strategy to prevent a return of fear after exposure-based therapy in anxiety disorders is to pharmacologically enhance the extinction memory consolidation presumed to occur after exposure. Accumulating evidence suggests that the effect of a number of pharmacological consolidation enhancers depends on a successful fear reduction during exposure. Here, we employed the dopamine precursor L-DOPA to clarify whether its documented potential to enhance extinction memory consolidation is dependent on successful fear extinction. METHODS:
In two double-blind, randomized and placebo-controlled experiments (experiment 1 N = 79, experiment 2 N = 32) comprising fear conditioning (day 1), extinction followed by administration of 150 mg L-DOPA or placebo (day 2) and a memory test (day 3) in healthy male adults, conditioned responses were assessed as differential skin conductance responses. We tested whether the effect of L-DOPA on conditioned responses at test depended on conditioned responses at the end of extinction in an experiment with a short (10 trials, experiment 1) and long (25 trials, experiment 2) extinction session.RESULTS:
In both experiments, the effect of L-DOPA was dependent on conditioned responses at the end of extinction. That is, post-extinction L-DOPA compared to placebo administration reduced conditioned responses at test only in participants showing a complete reduction of conditioned fear at the end of extinction.CONCLUSION:
The results support the potential use of L-DOPA as a pharmacological adjunct to exposure treatment, but point towards a common boundary condition for pharmacological consolidation enhancers a successful reduction of fear in the exposure session.Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Levodopa
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Condicionamiento Clásico
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Extinción Psicológica
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Miedo
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Consolidación de la Memoria
Tipo de estudio:
Clinical_trials
Límite:
Adult
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Humans
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Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Psychopharmacology (Berl)
Año:
2019
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Alemania