title: Fibroblast growth factor-2 alters the nature of extinction.
abstract: These experiments examined the effects of the NMDA-receptor (NMDAr) antagonist MK801 on reacquisition and re-extinction of a conditioned fear that had been previously extinguished before injection of fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF2) or vehicle. Recent findings have shown that relearning and re-extinction, unlike initial learning and extinction, do not depend on NMDAr activation. Three experiments demonstrated that FGF2 prevents the switch from NMDAr-dependent to NMDAr-independent reacquisition and re-extinction, suggesting that FGF2 may lead to the partial erasure of the original fear memory. These findings add to a growing body of work suggesting that FGF2 may be a novel pharmacological enhancer of exposure therapy for humans with anxiety disorders.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia. bgraham@psy.unsw.edu.au
authors.forename: Bronwyn M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.forename: Rick
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Richardson
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects; D016291:Dizocilpine Maleate / Q000494:pharmacology; D004347:Drug Interactions; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D005108:Extinction, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects*; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D046352:Freezing Reaction, Cataleptic / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2; D016291:Dizocilpine Maleate