Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
6897
pubmed:dateCreated
2002-8-1
pubmed:abstractText
Acquisition and storage of aversive memories is one of the basic principles of central nervous systems throughout the animal kingdom. In the absence of reinforcement, the resulting behavioural response will gradually diminish to be finally extinct. Despite the importance of extinction, its cellular mechanisms are largely unknown. The cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) and endocannabinoids are present in memory-related brain areas and modulate memory. Here we show that the endogenous cannabinoid system has a central function in extinction of aversive memories. CB1-deficient mice showed strongly impaired short-term and long-term extinction in auditory fear-conditioning tests, with unaffected memory acquisition and consolidation. Treatment of wild-type mice with the CB1 antagonist SR141716A mimicked the phenotype of CB1-deficient mice, revealing that CB1 is required at the moment of memory extinction. Consistently, tone presentation during extinction trials resulted in elevated levels of endocannabinoids in the basolateral amygdala complex, a region known to control extinction of aversive memories. In the basolateral amygdala, endocannabinoids and CB1 were crucially involved in long-term depression of GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)-mediated inhibitory currents. We propose that endocannabinoids facilitate extinction of aversive memories through their selective inhibitory effects on local inhibitory networks in the amygdala.
pubmed:commentsCorrections
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Aug
pubmed:issn
0028-0836
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
1
pubmed:volume
418
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
530-4
pubmed:dateRevised
2007-10-17
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Acoustic Stimulation, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Amygdala, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Animals, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Cannabinoids, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Conditioning, Classical, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Electrophysiology, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Endocannabinoids, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Extinction, Psychological, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Fear, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Gene Deletion, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Male, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Memory, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Mice, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Mice, Inbred C57BL, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Mice, Knockout, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Neuronal Plasticity, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Neurons, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Piperidines, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Pyrazoles, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Receptors, Cannabinoid, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Receptors, Drug, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-Synapses, pubmed-meshheading:12152079-gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
pubmed:year
2002
pubmed:articleTitle
The endogenous cannabinoid system controls extinction of aversive memories.
pubmed:affiliation
Molecular Genetics of Behaviour, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Kraepelinstrasse 2-10, 80804 Munich, Germany.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, In Vitro