Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokyo University of Science, Yamazaki, Noda, Chiba, Japan
Publications
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Mini Review
Are delta Opioid Receptor Agonists with Facilitating Effects on Fear Extinction Learning Candidates for the Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Author(s): Akiyoshi Saitoh*, Ayako Kawaminami and Daisuke Yamada*
Abstract
Several lines of evidence have suggested that Delta Opioid Receptor (DOP) system is involved in the mechanisms underlying the pathophysiology of fear and anxiety, as DOP is abundant in brain regions involved in emotion regulation systems. Recently, DOP agonists have attracted much attention as a promising new psychotropic agent for anxiety. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a condition in which an individual who has experienced a traumatic event continues to have recurrent flashbacks of the event, resulting in increased fear and anxiety. In the pathophysiology of PTSD, persistence of traumatic fear memories and impairment of fear extinction have been implicated. Several studies have focused on pharmacological agents to facilitate fear extinction. However, because of difficulties in the regulation of fear memory to specifically induce extinction, no clinica..
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