Addiction Rehab: Post-Retrieval Extinction as Reconsolidation Interference: Methodological Issues or Boundary Conditions?
Post-retrieval extinction as reconsolidation interference: methodological issues or boundary conditions?
Filed under: Addiction Rehab
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2013 Feb 13;
Auber A, Tedesco V, Jones CE, Monfils MH, Chiamulera C
Memories that are emotionally arousing generally promote the survival of species; however, the systems that modulate emotional learning can go awry, resulting in pathological conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorders, phobias, and addiction. Understanding the conditions under which emotional memories can be targeted is a major research focus as the potential to translate these methods into clinical populations carries important implications. It has been demonstrated that both fear and drug-related memories can be destabilised at their retrieval and require reconsolidation to be maintained. Therefore, memory reconsolidation offers a potential target period during which the aberrant memories underlying psychiatric disorders can be disrupted. Monfils et al. (Science 324:951-955, 2009) have shown for the first time that safe information provided through an extinction session after retrieval (during the reconsolidation window) may update the original memory trace and prevent the return of fear in rats. In recent years, several authors have then tested the effect of post-retrieval extinction on reconsolidation of either fear or drug-related memories in both laboratory animals and humans. In this article, we review the literature on post-reactivation extinction, discuss the differences across studies on the methodological ground, and review the potential boundary conditions that may explain existing discrepancies and limit the potential application of post-reactivation extinction approaches.
HubMed – addiction
Distribution of monoamine oxidase proteins in human brain: implications for brain imaging studies.
Filed under: Addiction Rehab
J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2013 Feb 13;
Tong J, Meyer JH, Furukawa Y, Boileau I, Chang LJ, Wilson AA, Houle S, Kish SJ
Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of monoamine oxidases (MAO-A: [(11)C]harmine, [(11)C]clorgyline, and [(11)C]befloxatone; MAO-B: [(11)C]deprenyl-D2) has been actively pursued given clinical importance of MAOs in human neuropsychiatric disorders. However, it is unknown how well PET outcome measures for the different radiotracers are quantitatively related to actual MAO protein levels. We measured regional distribution (n=38) and developmental/aging changes (21?hours to 99 years) of both MAOs by quantitative immunoblotting in autopsied normal human brain. MAO-A was more abundant than MAO-B in infants, which was reversed as MAO-B levels increased faster before 1 year and, unlike MAO-A, kept increasing steadily to senescence. In adults, regional protein levels of both MAOs were positively and proportionally correlated with literature postmortem data of MAO activities and binding densities. With the exception of [(11)C]befloxatone (binding potential (BP), r=0.61, P=0.15), correlations between regional PET outcome measures of binding in the literature and MAO protein levels were good (P<0.01) for [(11)C]harmine (distribution volume, r=0.86), [(11)C]clorgyline (?k(3), r=0.82), and [(11)C]deprenyl-D2 (?k(3) or modified Patlak slope, r=0.78 to 0.87), supporting validity of the latter imaging measures. However, compared with in vitro data, the latter PET measures underestimated regional contrast by ?2-fold. Further studies are needed to address cause of the in vivo vs. in vitro nonproportionality.Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism advance online publication, 13 February 2013; doi:10.1038/jcbfm.2013.19. HubMed – addiction
Individual differences in elevated plus-maze exploration predicted higher ethanol consumption and preference in outbred mice.
Filed under: Addiction Rehab
Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2013 Feb 8;
Bahi A
Psychiatric illnesses, such anxiety, are highly comorbid with drug use disorders in general and alcohol abuse in particular. Unfortunately, the causal role of anxiety in ethanol addiction is still unclear. We asked the question whether high anxiety predicts predilection of mice to voluntary consume more alcohol than water. In the current study, we used the voluntary alcohol intake in two bottle choice drinking paradigm to explore whether high anxiety predicts higher alcohol preference and intake in outbred Tuck-Ordinary “TO” mice. To this end, mice were tested for their anxiety-like behavior using the elevated plus maze, open field and the marble burying test prior to voluntary continuous access to increasing concentrations of alcohol solutions. To assess their taste discrimination, mice had access to saccharin and quinine solutions. Results showed that compared to low-anxious mice (LAM), high-anxious mice (HAM) showed greater consumption and preference for ethanol but not for saccharin and quinine suggesting alterations in the rewarding effects of alcohol. Taken together, these findings suggest a correlative link between trait anxiety and the behavioral responses to ethanol.
HubMed – addiction
Teen Addiction Treatment, What to Expect When You Arrive – Debbie, a Hazelden Center for Youth and Families alumni answers user and parent questions. Jim Steinhagen, executive director, speaks to Hazelden’s background and history. The video discusses what to expect as a new patient when you arrive at Hazelden’s Center for Youth and Families. For more information on substance abuse addiction treatment for adolescents and young adults, visit www.hazelden.org
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