Extinction of Fear Memory Attenuates Conditioned Cardiovascular Fear Reactivity.

ABSTRACT: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by a heightened emotional and physiological state and an impaired ability to suppress or extinguish traumatic fear memories. Exaggerated physiological responses may contribute to increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in this population, but whether treatment for PTSD can offset CVD risk remains unknown. To further evaluate physiological correlates of fear learning, we used a novel pre-clinical conditioned cardiovascular testing paradigm and examined the effects of Pavlovian fear conditioning and extinction training on mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) responses. We hypothesized that a fear conditioned cardiovascular response could be detected in a novel context and attenuated by extinction training. In a novel cont

SUBMITTER: Swiercz AP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6244092 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature