Continuous theta-burst stimulation over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex disrupts fear memory reconsolidation in humans
Sizhen Su,
Jiahui Deng,
Kai Yuan,
Yimiao Gong,
Yuxin Zhang,
Hui Li,
Kexin Cao,
Xiaolin Huang,
Xiao Lin,
Ping Wu,
Yanxue Xue,
Yanping Bao,
Jie Shi,
Le Shi,
Lin Lu
Affiliations
Sizhen Su
Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), 51 HuayuanBei Road, Beijing 100191, China
Jiahui Deng
Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), 51 HuayuanBei Road, Beijing 100191, China
Kai Yuan
Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), 51 HuayuanBei Road, Beijing 100191, China
Yimiao Gong
Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences and PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
Yuxin Zhang
Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences and PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
Hui Li
Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), 51 HuayuanBei Road, Beijing 100191, China
Kexin Cao
National Institute on Drug Dependence and Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
Xiaolin Huang
Savaid Medical School, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Xiao Lin
Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), 51 HuayuanBei Road, Beijing 100191, China
Ping Wu
National Institute on Drug Dependence and Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
Yanxue Xue
National Institute on Drug Dependence and Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
Yanping Bao
National Institute on Drug Dependence and Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
Jie Shi
National Institute on Drug Dependence and Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
Le Shi
Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), 51 HuayuanBei Road, Beijing 100191, China; Corresponding author
Lin Lu
Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), 51 HuayuanBei Road, Beijing 100191, China; Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences and PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China; National Institute on Drug Dependence and Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China; Corresponding author
Summary: Continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS), a non-invasive brain stimulation technique, can induce long-lasting changes in synaptic plasticity, vital for memory reconsolidation. For this study, a total of 170 participants completed four experiments by a randomized controlled design. Succeeding fear conditioning, the subjects received cTBS over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) or vertex (control) with or without exposure to the conditioned stimulus to reactivate the original fear memory, and then underwent fear response tests. Compared with cTBS over the vertex and without memory reactivation, only cTBS over the right dlPFC after reactivation decreased the fear response for both recent and remote fear memories. This procedure was effective only during the reconsolidation window. The disruptive effect of cTBS over the right dlPFC on fear memory reconsolidation was delay-dependent. These findings demonstrate that cTBS time-dependently and delay-dependently prevents the return of fear and may have clinical potential for treating fear-related disorders.
