Rapid Remission of Conditioned Fear Expression with Extinction Training Paired with Vagus Nerve Stimulation

• Published in: Biological psychiatry (1969) Vol. 73; no. 11; pp. 1071 - 1077
• Main Authors: Peña, David F., Engineer, Navzer D., McIntyre, Christa K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.06.2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation - adverse effects; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Analysis of Variance; Animals; Anxiety; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Association Learning - physiology; Behavior therapy. Cognitive therapy; Biological and medical sciences; Conditioning, Classical - physiology; Electroshock - adverse effects; exposure therapy; Extinction, Psychological - physiology; Fear - psychology; Male; Medical sciences; Memory - physiology; noradrenaline; norepinephrine; Post-traumatic stress disorder; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; PTSD; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Recurrence; stress; Treatments; Vagus Nerve Stimulation; norepinephrine; PTSD; stress; Anxiety; exposure therapy; noradrenaline; Affect affectivity; Extinction; Anxiety disorder; Emotion emotionality; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Exposure; Catecholamine; Stress; Fear; Treatment; Neurotransmitter; Remission; Vagus nerve stimulation; Norepinephrine; Behavior therapy

Fearful experiences can produce long-lasting and debilitating memories. Extinction of conditioned fear requires consolidation of new memories that compete with fearful associations. In human subjects, as well as rats, posttraining stimulation of the vagus nerve enhances memory consolidation. Subject...