Neuropsychopharmacology (28 November 2014) |
doi:10.1038/npp.2014.315
A Diet Enriched with Curcumin Impairs Newly Acquired and Reactivated Fear Memories
Melissa S Monsey, Danielle M Gerhard, Lara M Boyle, Miguel A Briones, Ma'ayan Seligsohn and Glenn E Schafe
Abstract
Curcumin,
a yellow-pigment compound found in the popular Indian spice turmeric
(Curcuma longa), has been extensively investigated for its
anti-inflammatory, chemopreventative, and antidepressant properties.
Here, we examined the efficacy of dietary curcumin at impairing the
consolidation and reconsolidation of a Pavlovian fear memory, a widely
studied animal model of traumatic memory formation in posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD). We show that a diet enriched with 1.5
% curcumin prevents the training-related elevation in the expression of the immediate early genes (IEGs) Arc
/Arg3.1
and Egr-1 in the lateral amygdala (LA) and impairs the ‘consolidation’
of an auditory Pavlovian fear memory; short-term memory (STM) is intact,
whereas long-term memory (LTM) is significantly impaired. Next, we show
that dietary curcumin impairs the ‘reconsolidation’ of a recently
formed auditory Pavlovian fear memory; fear memory retrieval
(reactivation) and postreactivation (PR)-STM are intact, whereas PR-LTM
is significantly impaired. Additional experiments revealed that dietary
curcumin is also effective at impairing the reconsolidation of an older,
well-consolidated fear memory. Furthermore, we observed that fear
memories that fail to reconsolidate under the influence of dietary
curcumin are impaired in an enduring manner; unlike extinguished fear
memories, they are not subject to reinstatement or renewal.
Collectively, our findings indicate that a diet enriched with curcumin
is capable of impairing fear memory consolidation and reconsolidation
processes, findings that may have important clinical implications for
the treatment of disorders such as PTSD that are characterized by
unusually strong and persistently reactivated fear memories
