Fibroblast growth factor-2 enhances extinction and reduces renewal of conditioned fear. 2010

Bronwyn M Graham, and Rick Richardson
School of Psychology, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia. bgraham@psy.unsw.edu.au

Anxiety disorders are increasingly prevalent in society; hence, there is a need to improve on existing treatments for such disorders. Fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF2), a mitogen that is involved in brain development and regeneration, has been shown to both facilitate long-term extinction of fear and reduce stress-precipitated relapse in rats. Extinction is the laboratory analog of exposure-based therapies in humans. In this study, we continued to investigate the clinical potential of FGF2 as a pharmacological enhancer of extinction by examining its effect on renewal, a common type of relapse. In all experiments, rats were trained to fear a white noise-conditioned stimulus, and then this learned fear was extinguished the following day. Rats received systemic injections of FGF2 or vehicle immediately after extinction training. At test, on the day after extinction training, levels of freezing elicited by the white noise in either the extinction context or the original training context were measured. FGF2-treated rats showed less renewal of fear when tested in the original training context than did vehicle-treated rats. This pattern occurred even when vehicle rats were given double the amount of extinction training, and when FGF2-treated rats were given equivalent exposure to the extinction context. These results show that FGF2 facilitates long-term extinction and attenuates relapse, and thus highlight its potential as a novel pharmacological adjunct to exposure therapy.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D009483 Neuropsychological Tests Tests designed to assess neurological function associated with certain behaviors. They are used in diagnosing brain dysfunction or damage and central nervous system disorders or injury. Aphasia Tests,Cognitive Test,Cognitive Testing,Cognitive Tests,Memory for Designs Test,Neuropsychological Testing,AX-CPT,Behavioral Assessment of Dysexecutive Syndrome,CANTAB,Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery,Clock Test,Cognitive Function Scanner,Continuous Performance Task,Controlled Oral Word Association Test,Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System,Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment,Hooper Visual Organization Test,NEPSY,Neuropsychologic Tests,Neuropsychological Test,Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test,Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status,Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure,Symbol Digit Modalities Test,Test of Everyday Attention,Test, Neuropsychological,Tests, Neuropsychological,Tower of London Test,Neuropsychologic Test,Test, Cognitive,Testing, Cognitive,Testing, Neuropsychological,Tests, Cognitive
D003213 Conditioning, Psychological Simple form of learning involving the formation, strengthening, or weakening of an association between a stimulus and a response. Conditioning, Psychology,Psychological Conditioning,Social Learning Theory,Social Learning Theories,Theory, Social Learning
D004195 Disease Models, Animal Naturally-occurring or experimentally-induced animal diseases with pathological processes analogous to human diseases. Animal Disease Model,Animal Disease Models,Disease Model, Animal
D005108 Extinction, Psychological The procedure of presenting the conditioned stimulus without REINFORCEMENT to an organism previously conditioned. It refers also to the diminution of a conditioned response resulting from this procedure. Psychological Extinction,Extinction (Psychology),Extinctions (Psychology),Extinctions, Psychological,Psychological Extinctions
D005239 Fear The affective response to an actual current external danger which subsides with the elimination of the threatening condition. Threat Cues,Threat Sensitivity,Cue, Threat,Fears,Sensitivity, Threat,Threat Cue,Threat Sensitivities
D000161 Acoustic Stimulation Use of sound to elicit a response in the nervous system. Auditory Stimulation,Stimulation, Acoustic,Stimulation, Auditory
D000818 Animals Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA. Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D001008 Anxiety Disorders Persistent and disabling ANXIETY. Anxiety Neuroses,Anxiety States, Neurotic,Neuroses, Anxiety,Anxiety Disorder,Anxiety State, Neurotic,Disorder, Anxiety,Disorders, Anxiety,Neurotic Anxiety State,Neurotic Anxiety States,State, Neurotic Anxiety,States, Neurotic Anxiety
D001362 Avoidance Learning A response to a cue that is instrumental in avoiding a noxious experience. Aversion Behavior,Aversion Learning,Aversive Behavior,Aversive Learning,Avoidance Behavior,Aversion Behaviors,Aversive Behaviors,Avoidance Behaviors,Behavior, Aversion,Behavior, Aversive,Behavior, Avoidance,Behaviors, Aversion,Behaviors, Aversive,Behaviors, Avoidance,Learning, Aversion,Learning, Aversive,Learning, Avoidance

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