A NMDA receptor antagonist, MK-801 impairs consolidating extinction of auditory conditioned fear responses in a Pavlovian model.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In auditory fear conditioning, repeated presentation of the tone in the absence of shock leads to extinction of the acquired fear responses. The glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) is thought to be involved in the extinction of the conditioned fear responses, but its detailed role in initiating and consolidating or maintaining the fear extinction memory is unclear. Here we investigated this issue by using a NMDAR antagonist, MK-801.

Methods/main findings

The effects of immediate (beginning at 10 min after the conditioning) and delayed (beginning at 24 h after conditioning) extinctions were first compared with the finding that delayed extinction caused a better and long-lasting (still significant on the 20(th) day after extinction) depression on the con

SUBMITTER: Liu JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2763217 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature