@article{ref1,
title="Novelty during a late postacquisition time window attenuates the persistence of fear memory",
journal="Scientific reports",
year="2016",
author="Katche, Cynthia and Tomaiuolo, Micol and Dorman, Guido and Medina, Jorge H. and Viola, Haydee",
volume="6",
number="",
pages="e35220-e35220",
abstract="Learning to avoid threats in the environment is highly adaptive. However, sometimes a dysregulation of fear memories processing may underlie fear-related disorders. Despite recent advances, a major question of how to effectively attenuate persistent fear memories in a safe manner remains unresolved. Here we show experiments employing a behavioural tool to target a specific time window after training to limit the persistence of a fear memory in rats. We observed that exposure to a novel environment 11 h after an inhibitory avoidance (IA) training that induces a long-lasting memory, attenuates the durability of IA memory but not its formation. This effect is time-restricted and not seen when the environment is familiar. In addition, novelty-induced attenuation of IA memory durability is prevented by the intrahippocampal infusion of the CaMKs inhibitor KN-93. This new behavioural approach which targets a specific time window during late memory consolidation, might represent a new tool for reducing the durability of persistent fear memories.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2045-2322",
doi="10.1038/srep35220",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep35220"
}