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The chains of habits: too strong to be broken by reconsolidation blockade?

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Vousden, GH 
Milton, AL 

Abstract

Memory reconsolidation — the process by which memories can become destabilised at retrieval, and be updated or modified — offers a potential therapeutic opportunity for mental health disorders based upon maladaptive emotional memories, such as drug addiction. Blocking the reconsolidation of pavlovian cue-drug memories persistently reduces subsequent relapse in rodent models and in human experimental medicine studies, but little is known about whether instrumental drug-seeking memories can be disrupted, particularly when individuals have transitioned to a compulsive drug-seeking habit. Here we discuss how studies of drug memory reconsolidation can be made more translationally relevant, with particular attention to the challenges faced by those attempting to disrupt the reconsolidation of habit memories.

Description

Keywords

5202 Biological Psychology, 3214 Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 32 Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, 52 Psychology, Basic Behavioral and Social Science, Neurosciences, Mental Health, Brain Disorders, Behavioral and Social Science, Mental health, 3 Good Health and Well Being

Journal Title

Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2352-1546
2352-1546

Volume Title

13

Publisher

Elsevier
Sponsorship
Medical Research Council (G1002231)
Medical Research Council (MR/N02530X/1)
GHV was supported by a doctoral training grant from the Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, which is a joint initiative funded by the UK Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust. ALM is the Ferreras-Willetts Fellow in Neuroscience at Downing College, Cambridge. The research of both GHV and ALM is supported by a Programme Grant (G1002231) from the UK Medical Research Council.