Facilitating actions of an AMPA receptor potentiator upon extinction of contextually conditioned fear response in stressed mice

Extinction of conditioned fear response is thought to be a biological process underlying exposure therapy for anxiety disorders. We have previously reported that an AMPA Receptor potentiator, 4-[2-(phenylsulfonylamino)ethylthio]-2,6-difluorophenoxyacetamide (PEPA), facilitates extinction of fear memory formed through contextual fear conditioning in mice that had never been exposed to experimental stress. On the other hand, recent findings suggest that the fear extinction is impaired in stressed rats or mice. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether PEPA facilitates impaired extinction of fear in stressed mice. For this purpose, mice were applied stress (a 2h restraint, a 20min forced swim, and ether inhalation), and contextual fear conditioning was carried out 7 days later. After 1-3 days of conditioning, mice were re-exposed to the context for 6min, and behavioral freezing response was measured. The time mice spent frozen decreased following every extinction session, and the decrease was remarkably slower in the stressed mice than in control non-stressed mice. PEPA (3, 10, 30mg/kg body weight) or vehicle was intraperitoneally administered into stressed mice once before the first extinction session. The significant decrease of the freezing response in the extinction sessions was only seen in the 30mg/kg PEPA-administered stressed mice, compared with vehicle-administered stressed mice. A similar extent of decrease in the freezing response in the extinction sessions was observed in the PEPA-administered (30mg/kg) and d-cycloserine-administered (30mg/kg) mice. These results suggest that PEPA facilitates extinction of contextual fear in stressed mice.