| 1. Ctr for Neural Sci, New York Univ, New York, NY, USA |
| 2. Rockefeller Univ, New York, NY, USA |
Support Contributed By: P50 MH58911 and K05 MH067048
Poster presentation:Sunday, Oct. 24, 10:00 AM - 11:00 PM
Location: NN21
| LeDoux Lab 2004 SfN Abstracts |
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| CHRONIC SSRI TREATMENT IMPAIRS THE ACQUISTION OF FEAR EXTINCTION IN RATS: A COMPARISON WITH TIANEPTINE | ||
| N.S.Burghardt1*; T.Sigurdsson1; B.S.McEwen2; J.E.LeDoux1 | ||
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| Previously, we reported that chronic treatment with the SSRI
citalopram impaired the acquisition of conditioned fear memories. The purported
serotonin reuptake enhancer tianeptine also impaired the acquisition of
conditioned fear. To further explore the role of SSRIs in the acquisition
of emotional learning, we evaluated the effects of chronic citalopram treatment
on the acquisition of conditioned fear extinction by administering chronic
drug treatment before extinction trials. These effects were compared to
those following chronic tianeptine treatment. Fear conditioning involved
2 presentations of a tone (20s, 10kHz) that co-terminated with a footshock
(0.7mA, 0.5s). Twenty-four hours after conditioning, rats were treated systemically
with citalopram (10 mg/kg, ip), tianeptine (10 mg/kg, ip), or saline daily
for 22 days and then given extinction trials one hour after the last injection.
Chronic citalopram treatment led to an impairment in the acquisition of
fear extinction, and the effect was maintained the next day when animals
were tested drug-free. Rats given chronic tianeptine treatment showed a
similar impairment, indicating that chronic citalopram and tianeptine treatment
lead to comparable effects on behavior. Given that extinction involves new
learning (learning that the tone does not predict a shock) this impairment
in extinction is consistent with the impairment in acquisition previously
reported with chronic treatment. These findings raise the possibility that
the therapeutic effects resulting from chronic treatment with serotonin
related drugs are due to an alteration in emotional learning. Support Contributed By: P50 MH58911 and K05 MH067048 |
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| Program No. 208.6 Poster presentation:Sunday, Oct. 24, 10:00 AM - 11:00 PM Location: NN21 |
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