Prazosin during threat discrimination boosts memory of the safe stimulus

Access Data

Abstract

The α-1 adrenoreceptor antagonist prazosin has shown promise in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, but its mechanisms are not well understood. Here we administered prazosin or placebo prior to threat conditioning (day 1) and tested subsequent extinction (day 2) and reextinction (day 3) in healthy human participants. Prazosin did not affect threat conditioning but augmented stimulus discrimination during extinction and reextinction, via lower responding to the safe stimulus. These results suggest that prazosin during threat acquisition may have influenced encoding or consolidation of safety processing in particular, subsequently leading to enhanced discrimination between the safe and threatening stimuli.

ID 179

Authors

Philipp Homan, Department of Psychiatry and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York 10029, USA. Qi Lin, Department of Psychiatry and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York 10029, USA. James W Murrough, Department of Psychiatry and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York 10029, USA.; Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York 10029, USA Laili Soleimani, Department of Psychiatry and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York 10029, USA Dominik R Bach, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland Roger L Clem, Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York 10029, USA Daniela Schiller, Department of Psychiatry and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York 10029, USA; Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York 10029, USA

Year

2017

DOI of Publication

10.1101/lm.045898.117

Persistent Identifier to Dataset

10.17605/OSF.IO/74XTZ

Where was the data collected?

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA

How to Cite

Homan, P., Lin, Q., Murrough, J. W., Soleimani, L., Bach, D. R., Clem, R. L., & Schiller, D. (2017). Prazosin during threat discrimination boosts memory of the safe stimulus. Learning & Memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.), 24(11), 597–601. https://doi.org/10.1101/lm.045898.117

Participant Information

Participant Age

Participant Gender

Experimental Group

Placebo Group: - Administration of placebo 2h before acquisition Prazosin Group: - Administration of 3 mg Prazosin before acquisition (1 mg 2 h before acq., 2 mg 1.5 h before acq.)

Stimuli

Drug Administration

Yes

Conditioning Protocol

Differential

Instructions CS-US Contingencies

Uninstructed (whole exp)

Number of Different US

1

US Modality

electrotactile

Number of Different CS+

1

CS+ 1: Reinforcement Rate (%)

43

CS+ 2: Reinforcement Rate (%)

CS+ 3: Reinforcement Rate (%)

Number of Different CS-

1

CS Modality

visual

Data Collected During MRI

No

Physiological Measures

measured trialwise & untransformed

Skin Conductance Response

Yes Yes

Skin Conductance Level

No No

Pupil Size

No No

Fear Potentiated Startle/Startle EMG

No No

Heart Rate

No No

Ratings

US Expectancy

No

US Intensity Rating

No

CS Valence

No

CS Arousal

No

CS Fear

No

CS Stress

No

CS Anxiety

No

Contingency Awareness

No

Questionnaires

State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T)