Propranolol can induce PTSD‐like memory impairments in rats

Introduction One hallmark symptom of post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an inability to restrict fear responses to the appropriate predictor. An infusion of glucocorticoids (GCs) after a high‐intensity shock has been shown to induce PTSD‐like memory impairments. In addition to GCs, noradrenerg...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain and behavior 2018-02, Vol.8 (2), p.e00905-n/a
Main Authors: Zhu, Rong‐Ting, Liu, Xiang‐Hui, Shi, Yan‐Wei, Wang, Xiao‐Guang, Xue, Li, Zhao, Hu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adrenergic beta-Antagonists - pharmacology
Animals
contextual fear conditioning
Disease Models, Animal
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
Fear - physiology
hippocampus
Hippocampus - drug effects
Hippocampus - metabolism
Impaired risk
Male
Memory
Memory - physiology
memory consolidation
Memory Disorders - etiology
Memory Disorders - metabolism
Original Research
Post traumatic stress disorder
Propranolol - pharmacology
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Rodents
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - complications
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - metabolism
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology
β‐adrenoceptor
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Summary:Introduction One hallmark symptom of post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an inability to restrict fear responses to the appropriate predictor. An infusion of glucocorticoids (GCs) after a high‐intensity shock has been shown to induce PTSD‐like memory impairments. In addition to GCs, noradrenergic signalling is also recognized as a key biomarker underlying PTSD symptomatology. Methods To explore the role of the noradrenergic system in PTSD‐like memory impairments, in this study, various doses of the β‐adrenoceptor antagonist propranolol were systemically or bilaterally injected into the dorsal hippocampus immediately after unpaired cue‐shock contextual fear conditioning, and then the rats were tested 24 h later. Results Interestingly, we found that only low‐dose propranolol could induce PTSD‐like memory impairments, as rats showed reduced freezing to the correct predictor and generalized fear responses to the safe cues, accompanied by increased NE levels in the hippocampus and altered neural activity within the frontal‐subcortical circuit. Conclusion These findings demonstrate that the noradrenergic system is involved in regulating the consolidation of contextual fear memory and that propranolol can dose‐dependently induce PTSD‐like memory impairments. Low‐dose propranolol can induce PTSD‐like memory impairments. The propranolol's effect of PTSD‐like memory impairments showed hippocampus region specificity. The increased NE levels in the hippocampus and altered neural activity within the frontal‐subcortical circuit may be the possible regulatory mechanism which the low‐dose propranolol induced PTSD‐like memory impairments.
ISSN:2162-3279
2162-3279
DOI:10.1002/brb3.905