Novelty during a late postacquisition time window attenuates the persistence of fear memory

Learning to avoid threats in the environment is highly adaptive. However, sometimes a dysregulation of fear memories processing may underlie fear-related disorders. Despite recent advances, a major question of how to effectively attenuate persistent fear memories in a safe manner remains unresolved....

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Katche, C., Tomaiuolo, M., Dorman, G., Medina, J.H., Viola, H.
Formato: JOUR
Materias:
rat
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_20452322_v6_n_p_Katche
Aporte de:
Descripción
Sumario:Learning to avoid threats in the environment is highly adaptive. However, sometimes a dysregulation of fear memories processing may underlie fear-related disorders. Despite recent advances, a major question of how to effectively attenuate persistent fear memories in a safe manner remains unresolved. Here we show experiments employing a behavioural tool to target a specific time window after training to limit the persistence of a fear memory in rats. We observed that exposure to a novel environment 11 h after an inhibitory avoidance (IA) training that induces a long-lasting memory, attenuates the durability of IA memory but not its formation. This effect is time-restricted and not seen when the environment is familiar. In addition, novelty-induced attenuation of IA memory durability is prevented by the intrahippocampal infusion of the CaMKs inhibitor KN-93. This new behavioural approach which targets a specific time window during late memory consolidation, might represent a new tool for reducing the durability of persistent fear memories. © The Author(s) 2016.