Mothers do it differently: reproductive experience alters fear extinction in female rats and women.

ABSTRACT: Fear extinction is the laboratory basis of exposure therapy for anxiety disorders. Recent findings have revealed that estradiol is necessary to the consolidation of extinction memories in females. These findings are based on studies conducted using virgin rats and young women whose reproductive history is unknown. We hypothesized that motherhood, which results in extensive endocrinological, neurobiological and behavioral changes, may lead to alterations in fear extinction in females. We used a cross-species translational approach to investigate the impact of reproductive experience on fear extinction and fear relapse in female rats (n=116) and women (n=64). Although freezing during extinction recall was associated with estrous cycle phase during extinction training in virgin rats, this ass

SUBMITTER: Milligan-Saville JS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5290346 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature