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Readable research linked to original sources
Browse normalized, publication-ready research with direct links to its evidence and source.
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Readable research linked to original sources
Browse normalized, publication-ready research with direct links to its evidence and source.
37 articles
Newest firstA hallmark of many psychiatric disorders is maladaptive and heightened fear responses to non-threatening stimuli. Adaptive defensive responses to threats involve transitions between passive behaviors, such as freezing, and active escape strategies, such as darting or fleeing. The endocannabinoid (eCB) system, particularly 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), plays a crucial role in modulating fear and stress responses.…
Open article record in new tab ↗The endocannabinoid ligand anandamide (AEA) plays a role in fear extinction, the conceptual foundation of the gold standard treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), exposure-based psychotherapy. Converging evidence from animal models and non-clinical human studies highlights the potential to enhance fear extinction pharmacologically by inhibiting the AEA catabolic enzyme, fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAA…
This study aimed to assess changes in the surface temperature and physiological parameters of cats exposed to a fear model involving negative dog-cat interactions, receiving three pharmacological options: a single dose of cannabidiol, gabapentin, or synthetic facial pheromones. The surface temperature of the upper and lower limbs, facial, dorsal, and appendicular thermal windows was assessed through infrared therm…
Background Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting voluntary muscle movement as well as cognitive and other behavioural domains at later disease stages. No effective treatment for ALS is currently available. Elevated neuroinflammation, oxidative stress and alterations to the endocannabinoid system are evident in ALS. The phytocannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) has anti-i…
Acquisition and extinction of associative fear memories are critical for guiding adaptive behavioral responses to environmental threats, and dysregulation of these processes is thought to represent important neurobehavioral substrates of trauma and stress-related disorders including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Endogenous cannabinoid (eCB) signaling has been heavily implicated in the extinction of aversiv…
Open article record in new tab ↗Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating neuropsychiatric condition closely linked to neuroinflammation, with a higher prevalence in women. Cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive cannabinoid, has shown promise as a potential treatment for PTSD. In this study, we used a PTSD model in which female rats were subjected to a severe foot shock followed by contextual situational reminders (SRs). Testing was…
Open article record in new tab ↗CBD is the primary noneuphorizing and nonaddictive compound of cannabis. It has recently been shown to possess considerable therapeutic potential for treating a wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders in humans, such as anxiety. In addition to humans, domestic cats are provided with such endocannabinoid system with which CBD interacts almost in the same manner researchers think it does in humans. However, little…
Open article record in new tab ↗Background Some people use illicit drugs to relieve stress. However, these drugs cause serious damage not only to individuals but also to society as a whole. Stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is considerable, as the number of illicit drug users continues to increase, despite a decrease in the availability of drugs and opportunities to leave the house during the pandemic. Fear of COVID-19 causes stress; howeve…
Open article record in new tab ↗The replicability of fear conditioning research has come under recent scrutiny, with increasing acknowledgment that the use of differing materials and methods may lead to incongruent results. Direct comparisons between the main two unconditional stimuli used in fear conditioning - an electric shock or a loud scream-are scarce, and yet these stimuli are usually used interchangeably. In the present study, we tested…
Open article record in new tab ↗Learning to recognize and respond to potential threats is crucial for survival. Pavlovian threat conditioning represents a key paradigm for investigating the neurobiological mechanisms of fear learning. In this review, we address the role of specific neuropharmacological adjuvants that act on neurochemical synaptic transmission, as well as on brain plasticity processes implicated in fear memory. We focus on novel…
Increasing evidence suggests that the neurobiological processes that govern learning and memory can be different in males and females, but many of the specific mechanisms underlying these sex differences have not been fully defined. Here we investigated potential sex differences in endocannabinoid (eCB) modulation of Pavlovian fear conditioning and extinction, examining multiple defensive behaviors, including shoc…
Open article record in new tab ↗The consumption of synthetic cannabinoids during adolescence is reported to be a risk factor for the appearance of psychiatric disorders later in life. JWH-018 was identified as one of the primary psychoactive components present in Spice/K2 preparations. This study evaluated the short- and long-term consequences of exposure to JWH-018 during the adolescence in anxiety-like behavior, fear extinction, and sensorimot…
Persons with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) often exhibit persistent emotional impairments, particularly depression, fearfulness, and anxiety, that significantly diminish quality of life. Studying these mood disorders in animal models of mild TBI can help provide insight into possible therapies. We have previously reported that mice show increased depression, fearfulness, and anxiety, as well as visual and moto…
Open article record in new tab ↗Storage of aversive memories is of utmost importance for survival, allowing animals to avoid upcoming similar stimuli. However, without reinforcement, the learned avoidance response gradually decreases over time. Although the molecular mechanisms controlling this extinction process are not well known, there is evidence that the endocannabinoid system plays a key role through CB1 receptor-mediated modulation of cho…
Endocannabinoids (eCBs) are involved in buffering threat and stress responses. Elevation of circulating eCBs in humans was reported to strengthen inhibition (i.e., extinction) of threat responses and to reduce effects of stressors. However, it remains unclear whether the acquisition of threat responses involves a physiological change in circulating eCBs. Here, we demonstrate in male human volunteers that the plasm…
Open article record in new tab ↗Gold standard treatments for anxiety- and trauma-related disorders focus on exposure therapy promoting extinction learning and extinction retention. However, its efficacy is limited. Preclinical and particularly animal research has been able to demonstrate that homozygosity for the fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) C385A allele, similar to FAAH inhibition, is associated with elevated concentrations of anandamide (…
Open article record in new tab ↗Genetic and environmental factors are implicated in the etiology of neuropsychiatric diseases. Inbred mouse strains, including the 129S1/SvImJ (S1), constitute important models to study the influence of genetic factors in these conditions. S1 mice displayed anxiogenic-like behavior, impaired fear extinction, and increased prepulse inhibition (PPI) of startle reflex compared to C57BL/6J (BL6) mice. Given the role p…
Open article record in new tab ↗Evidence suggests that people at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis (CHR) have a blunted cortisol response to stress and altered mediotemporal activation during fear processing, which may be neuroendocrine-neuronal signatures of maladaptive threat responses. However, whether these facets are associated with each other and how this relationship is affected by cannabidiol treatment is unknown. We examined the relation…
Anxiety- and trauma-related disorders are severe illnesses with high prevalence. Current treatment options leave room for improvement and the endocannabinoid system (ECS) has become a key target in psychopharmacological research. Rodent models suggest an anxiolytic effect of endocannabinoids and demonstrated that the ECS is involved in the modulation of fear learning and aversive memory consolidation. So far, one…
Background Accumulation of amyloid beta oligomers (AβO) in Alzheimer's disease (AD) impairs hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP), leading to memory deficits. Thus, identifying the molecular targets of AβO involved in LTP inhibition is critical for developing therapeutics for AD. Endocannabinoid (eCB) synthesis and release, a process collectively called eCB mobilization by hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cells, is kn…
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