Steroids may have a role in the treatment of anxiety disorders like posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to studies in mice, which indicate that glucocorticoids, a type of steroid, impair the recall of established fear memories.

“Our understanding of the basic brain mechanisms responsible for acquired fear and anxiety has resulted in new and potentially extremely effective approaches” for PTSD and other psychiatric disorders, study investigator Dr. Robert W. Greene from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, told Reuters Health.

“One approach, suggested by this research, is to enhance the process of extinction, as we have observed in mice - an enhancement that depends on reactivation of the fear or anxiety provoking memory.”

Greene and colleagues investigated the effects of glucocorticoid administration on subsequent recall of an established fear memory in mice after a single-trial reactivation.

Mice injected with the hormone corticosterone after memory reactivation showed significantly decreased fear memory 24 hours later, the authors report, indicating that corticosteroids impair subsequent recall of a reactivated fear memory.

These studies, they conclude, “provide a model for a therapeutic approach” in the treatment of emotional memories that may cause disease.

SOURCE: Journal of Neuroscience September 13, 2006.