Pharmacological blockade of memory reconsolidation in posttraumatic stress disorder: Three negative psychophysiological studies
Section snippets
General introduction
Animal research suggests that under favorable conditions, the retrieval (reactivation (RP)) of a consolidated memory may return it to a labile state from which it must be restabilized in order to persist (Nader et al., 2000). This restabilization process is termed reconsolidation. It involves neurobiological mechanisms that are similar but not identical to those involved in memory consolidation (Lee et al., 2004). Reconsolidation is largely demonstrated by its blockade. It derives its support
General discussion
Study One aimed to replicate and extend earlier findings that propranolol accompanying traumatic memory reactivation weakens physiological responding during subsequent mental imagery of the traumatic event (Brunet et al., 2008). Studies Two and Three pursued novel pharmacological interventions for traumatic memory reconsolidation blockade, specifically mifepristone alone or in combination with DCS. Unfortunately, the results of all three studies failed to show significant effects of
Conflict of interest
None of the authors have competing interests.
Acknowledgments
This study was funded by U.S. Army grant # W81XWH-08-2-0126.
Roy Karnovsky at Danco Laboratories provided the mifepristone medication. Dr. Anna Ruef and Ms. Heike Croteau provided valuable assistance.
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Each contributed equally to this work.