SynthesisPsychopharmacology2023
Pharmacological modulation of conditioned fear in the fear-potentiated startle test: a systematic review and meta-analysis of animal studies.
Synthesis in Psychopharmacology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neural mechanisms underlying exposure and response prevention for obsessive compulsive disorder: A randomized controlled trial.Behaviour research and therapy · 2025Trial
- Diazepam selectively biases approach during threat-reward conflict while sparing reactive avoidance.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Lethal Interactions of neuronal networks in epilepsy mediated by both synaptic and volume transmission indicate approaches to prevention.Progress in neurobiology · 2025Review
- The effects of spaced versus massed extinction training on extinction retention of conditioned fear learning in male rats.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2025Article
- Recent advances in anxiety disorders: Focus on animal models and pathological mechanisms.Animal models and experimental medicine · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
RATIONALE AND
objectivesFear conditioning is an important aspect in the pathophysiology of anxiety disorders. The fear-potentiated startle test is based on classical fear conditioning and over the years, a broad range of drugs have been tested in this test. Synthesis of the available data may further our understanding of the neurotransmitter systems that are involved in the expression of conditioned fear.
methodsFollowing a comprehensive search in Medline and Embase, we included 68 research articles that reported on 103 drugs, covering 56 different drug classes. The systematic review was limited to studies using acute, systemic drug administration in naive animals.
resultsQualitative data synthesis showed that most clinically active anxiolytics, but not serotonin-reuptake inhibitors, reduced cued fear. Anxiogenic drugs increased fear potentiation in 35% of the experiments, reduced fear potentiation in 29% of the experiments, and were without effect in 29% of the experiments. Meta-analyses could be performed for five drug classes and showed that benzodiazepines, buspirone, 5-HT
conclusionsThe fear-potentiated startle test appears to have moderate to high predictive validity and may serve as a valuable tool for the development of novel anxiolytics. Given the limited available data, the generally low study quality and high heterogeneity additional studies are warranted to corroborate the findings of this review.
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Registered trials
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