ArticlePloS one2014
Fear extinction as a model for synaptic plasticity in major depressive disorder.
Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 65 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in Patients with Epilepsy: A Randomized Clinical Trial.Iranian journal of medical sciences · 2021Trial
- Targeting Cathepsins in Neurodegeneration: Biochemical Advances.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Unveiling the Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Antidepressants: A Systematic Review of Human Studies over the Last Decade.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Serum Lipidome Change in Japanese Patients with Major Depressive Disorder: A Real-World Exploratory Study.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2025Article
- The unique face of comorbid anxiety and depression: Increased frontal, insula and cingulate cortex response during Pavlovian fear-conditioning.Journal of affective disorders · 2024Article
- Impairment in acquisition of conditioned fear in people with depressive symptoms.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Neuroinflammation and major depressive disorder: astrocytes at the crossroads.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2024Review
- The Role of Cysteine Protease Cathepsins B, H, C, and X/Z in Neurodegenerative Diseases and Cancer.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- The unique face of anxious depression: Increased sustained threat circuitry response during fear acquisition.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Aerobic Exercise Improves Depressive-like Behavior in CUMS-Induced Rats via the SIRT3/ROS/NLRP3 Signaling Pathway.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Predicting Fear Extinction in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.Brain sciences · 2023Article
- The importance of a multidimensional approach to the preclinical study of major depressive disorder and apathy.Emerging topics in life sciences · 2022Article
- Impact of exogenous estradiol on task-based and resting-state neural signature during and after fear extinction in healthy women.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2021Article
- Abnormal expression profile of plasma-derived exosomal microRNAs in patients with treatment-resistant depression.Human genomics · 2021Article
- Choline elevation in amygdala region at recovery indicates longer survival without depressive episode: a magnetic resonance spectroscopy study.Psychopharmacology · 2021Article
- Maladaptive avoidance patterns in Parkinson's disease are exacerbated by symptoms of depression.Behavioural brain research · 2020Article
- The Role of BDNF on Neural Plasticity in Depression.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2020Article
- Dual Role of Autophagy in Diseases of the Central Nervous System.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2019Review
- Assessment of neuroplasticity in late-life depression with transcranial magnetic stimulation.Journal of psychiatric research · 2018Article
- MiR-221 is involved in depression by regulating Wnt2/CREB/BDNF axis in hippocampal neurons.Cell cycle (Georgetown, Tex.) · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe neuroplasticity hypothesis of major depressive disorder proposes that a dysfunction of synaptic plasticity represents a basic pathomechanism of the disorder. Animal models of depression indicate enhanced plasticity in a ventral emotional network, comprising the amygdala. Here, we investigated fear extinction learning as a non-invasive probe for amygdala-dependent synaptic plasticity in patients with major depressive disorder and healthy controls.
methodsDifferential fear conditioning was measured in 37 inpatients with severe unipolar depression (International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision, criteria) and 40 healthy controls. The eye-blink startle response, a subcortical output signal that is modulated by local synaptic plasticity in the amygdala in fear acquisition and extinction learning, was recorded as the primary outcome parameter.
resultsAfter robust and similar fear acquisition in both groups, patients with major depressive disorder showed significantly enhanced fear extinction learning in comparison to healthy controls, as indicated by startle responses to conditioned stimuli. The strength of extinction learning was positively correlated with the total illness duration.
conclusionsThe finding of enhanced fear extinction learning in major depressive disorder is consistent with the concept that the disorder is characterized by enhanced synaptic plasticity in the amygdala and the ventral emotional network. Clinically, the observation emphasizes the potential of successful extinction learning, the basis of exposure therapy, in anxiety-related disorders despite the frequent comorbidity of major depressive disorder.
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