title: A diet enriched with curcumin impairs newly acquired and reactivated fear memories.
abstract: Curcumin, a yellow-pigment compound found in the popular Indian spice turmeric (Curcuma longa), has been extensively investigated for its anti-inflammatory, chemopreventative, and antidepressant properties. Here, we examined the efficacy of dietary curcumin at impairing the consolidation and reconsolidation of a Pavlovian fear memory, a widely studied animal model of traumatic memory formation in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We show that a diet enriched with 1.5% curcumin prevents the training-related elevation in the expression of the immediate early genes (IEGs) Arc/Arg3.1 and Egr-1 in the lateral amygdala (LA) and impairs the 'consolidation' of an auditory Pavlovian fear memory; short-term memory (STM) is intact, whereas long-term memory (LTM) is significantly impaired. Next, we show that dietary curcumin impairs the 'reconsolidation' of a recently formed auditory Pavlovian fear memory; fear memory retrieval (reactivation) and postreactivation (PR)-STM are intact, whereas PR-LTM is significantly impaired. Additional experiments revealed that dietary curcumin is also effective at impairing the reconsolidation of an older, well-consolidated fear memory. Furthermore, we observed that fear memories that fail to reconsolidate under the influence of dietary curcumin are impaired in an enduring manner; unlike extinguished fear memories, they are not subject to reinstatement or renewal. Collectively, our findings indicate that a diet enriched with curcumin is capable of impairing fear memory consolidation and reconsolidation processes, findings that may have important clinical implications for the treatment of disorders such as PTSD that are characterized by unusually strong and persistently reactivated fear memories.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Melissa S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Monsey
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Danielle M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Gerhard
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Lara M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Boyle
authors.affiliation: The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Miguel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Briones
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Hunter College, The City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Ma'ayan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Seligsohn
authors.affiliation: 1] The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, New York, NY, USA [2] Department of Psychology, Hunter College, The City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Glenn E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Schafe
mesh_terms: D000679:Amygdala / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology; D003474:Curcumin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004032:Diet; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D051766:Early Growth Response Protein 1 / Q000378:metabolism; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000178:diet therapy / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D051766:Early Growth Response Protein 1; C486110:Egr1 protein, rat; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C092069:activity regulated cytoskeletal-associated protein; D003474:Curcumin