Influence of stress on fear memory processes in an aversive differential conditioning paradigm in humans

Bentz, Dorothée; Michael, Tanja; Wilhelm, Frank H.; Hartmann, Francina; Kunz, Sabrina; Rohr, Isabelle R. Rudolf von; Quervain, Dominique J.‐F. de

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2012.12.018

Cited by 66 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 67 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Particularly, the BLA appears to have a crucial role in mediating the glucocorticoid-enhancing effects on memory consolidation (Roozendaal andMcGaugh, 1996,1997). In contrast, stress and glucocorticoids impair memory retrieval during emotionally arousing tests both in animals (de Quervain et al, 1998) and human subjects (Bentz et al, 2013;de Quervain et al, 2009). In this section, we will discuss basic research findings of how the eCB system modulates stress effects on memory, although these have been reviewed in greater depth elsewhere (Atsak et al, 2012b;Morena and Campolongo, 2014a).…”

Section: Functional Role Of Ecb Signaling In the Neurobiological Effementioning

confidence: 99%

Neurobiological Interactions Between Stress and the Endocannabinoid System

Morena

Patel

Bains

et al. 2015

Neuropsychopharmacol

471

496

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Stress affects a constellation of physiological systems in the body and evokes a rapid shift in many neurobehavioral processes. A growing body of work indicates that the endocannabinoid (eCB) system is an integral regulator of the stress response. In the current review, we discuss the evidence to date that demonstrates stress-induced regulation of eCB signaling and the consequential role changes in eCB signaling have with respect to many of the effects of stress. Across a wide array of stress paradigms, studies have generally shown that stress evokes bidirectional changes in the two eCB molecules, anandamide (AEA) and 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG), with stress exposure reducing AEA levels and increasing 2-AG levels. Additionally, in almost every brain region examined, exposure to chronic stress reliably causes a downregulation or loss of cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptors. With respect to the functional role of changes in eCB signaling during stress, studies have demonstrated that the decline in AEA appears to contribute to the manifestation of the stress response, including activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and increases in anxiety behavior, while the increased 2-AG signaling contributes to termination and adaptation of the HPA axis, as well as potentially contributing to changes in pain perception, memory and synaptic plasticity. More so, translational studies have shown that eCB signaling in humans regulates many of the same domains and appears to be a critical component of stress regulation, and impairments in this system may be involved in the vulnerability to stress-related psychiatric conditions, such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. Collectively, these data create a compelling argument that eCB signaling is an important regulatory system in the brain that largely functions to buffer against many of the effects of stress and that dynamic changes in this system contribute to different aspects of the stress response.

show abstract

Section: Functional Role Of Ecb Signaling In the Neurobiological Effementioning

confidence: 99%

Neurobiological Interactions Between Stress and the Endocannabinoid System

Morena

Patel

Bains

et al. 2015

Neuropsychopharmacol

471

496

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…One approach that researchers have employed to study the effects of GCs in humans is to use environmental manipulations, such as the Trier Social Stress Task (Kirschbaum, Pirke & Hellhammer, 1993) or the Cold Pressor task (e.g., Bentz et al., 2013; Nielsen et al, 2013). These studies are essential for discovering the effects of endogenously generated cortisol in response to psychological stress.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Circulating cortisol levels after exogenous cortisol administration are higher in women using hormonal contraceptives: data from two preliminary studies

Gaffey

Wirth

Hoks

et al. 2014

Stress

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Exogenous cortisol administration has been used to test the influence of glucocorticoids on a variety of outcomes, including memory and affect. Careful control of factors known to influence cortisol and other endogenous hormone levels is central to the success of this research. While use of hormonal birth control (HBC) is known to exert many physiological effects, including decreasing the salivary cortisol response to stress, it is unknown how HBC influences circulating cortisol levels after exogenous cortisol administration. To determine those effects, we examined the role of HBC on participants’ cortisol levels after receiving synthetic cortisol (hydrocortisone) in two separate studies. In Study 1, 24 healthy women taking HBC and 26 healthy men were administered a 0.1 mg/kg body weight intravenous dose of hydrocortisone, and plasma cortisol levels were measured over 3 hours. In Study 2, 61 participants (34 women; 16 were on HBC) received a 15 mg hydrocortisone pill, and salivary cortisol levels were measured over 6 hours. Taken together, results from these studies suggest that HBC use is associated with a greater cortisol increase following cortisol administration. These data have important methodological implications: (1) when given a controlled dose of hydrocortisone, cortisol levels may increase more dramatically in women taking HBC vs. women not on HBC or men; and (2) in studies manipulating cortisol levels, women on hormonal contraceptives should be investigated as a separate group.

show abstract

“…The CPT can also be used to investigate the full stress response, including second-wave cortisol increases (e.g., by adding a social-evaluative component). The only previous study, placing the CPT prior to extinction (Bentz et al, 2013), reported impaired retrieval of fear, but failed to show extinction learning. Placed prior to extinction retrieval, CPT (including cortisol increases) was reported to impair extinction retrieval (Raio et al, 2014) but also to reduce contextual fear renewal, consistent with enhanced extinction retrieval (Merz et al, 2014a).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%