Effects of acute exercise on fear extinction in rats and exposure therapy in humans: Null findings from five experiments

Jacquart, Jolene; Roquet, Rheall F.; Papini, Santiago; Powers, Mark B.; Rosenfield, David; Smits, Jasper A.J.; Monfils, Marie‐H.

doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2017.05.010

Cited by 26 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 83 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This is in line with a point made by other authors, that physical exercise could be a more potent intervention in groups in whom treatment with CBT has limited effects (e.g. [62]).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Physical exercise augmented cognitive behaviour therapy for older adults with generalised anxiety disorder (PEXACOG): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Stavestrand

Sirevåg

Nordhus

et al. 2019

Trials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundGeneralised anxiety disorder (GAD) is a frequent and severe anxiety disorder among older adults. GAD increases the risk of developing other disorders such as depression and coronary heart disease. Older adults with GAD exhibit a poorer response to cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) compared to younger patients with GAD. The normal age-related cognitive decline can be a contributor to reduced treatment efficacy. One strategy for improving treatment efficacy is to combine CBT with adjunctive interventions targeted at improving cognitive functions. Physical exercise is a viable intervention in this regard. Increased levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor may mediate improvement in cognitive function. The present study aims to investigate the proposed effects and mechanisms related to concomitant physical exercise.MethodsThe sample comprises 70 participants aged 60–75 years, who have GAD. Exclusion criteria comprise substance abuse and unstable medication; inability to participate in physical exercise; and conditions which precludes GAD as primary diagnosis. The interventions are individual treatment in the outpatient clinic at the local psychiatric hospital, with two experimental arms: (1) CBT + physical exercise and (2) CBT + telephone calls. The primary outcome measure is symptom reduction on the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. Other measures include questionnaires, clinical interviews, physiological, biological and neuropsychological tests. A subset of 40 participants will undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). After inclusion, participants undergo baseline testing, and are subsequently randomized to a treatment condition. Participants attend five sessions of the add-on treatment in the pre-treatment phase, and move on to interim testing. After interim testing, participants attend 10 sessions of CBT in parallel with continued add-on treatment. Participants are tested post-intervention within 2 weeks of completing treatment, with follow-up testing 6 and 12 months later.DiscussionThis study aims to develop better treatment for GAD in older adults. Enhancing treatment response will be valuable from both individual and societal perspectives, especially taking the aging of the general population into account.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02690441. Registered on 24 February 2016.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13063-019-3268-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

show abstract

“…This is in line with a point made by other authors, that physical exercise could be a more potent intervention in groups in whom treatment with CBT has limited effects (e.g. [62]).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Physical exercise augmented cognitive behaviour therapy for older adults with generalised anxiety disorder (PEXACOG): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Stavestrand

Sirevåg

Nordhus

et al. 2019

Trials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This study highlights that Met allele carriers of the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism may pose as a boundary factor in terms of acute exercise-induced benefits on extinction memory retention. While premature to conclude, this finding may help explain inconsistent findings in rodent research whereby exercise is associated with both an increased 22 , and a null effect on 73 retention of extinction training. Notably, in humans exercise has been found to both augment 74 and yield no benefit 73 on outcomes for exposure therapy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…While premature to conclude, this finding may help explain inconsistent findings in rodent research whereby exercise is associated with both an increased 22 , and a null effect on 73 retention of extinction training. Notably, in humans exercise has been found to both augment 74 and yield no benefit 73 on outcomes for exposure therapy. These divergent findings may be attributed to differences in sex distribution, timing of exercise (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…before vs. after learning) or variants of the BDNF polymorphism. In this context, it is worth noting that these previous studies have varied in their ethnic composition, with one study comprising mainly Caucasians 74 and the other primarily Asians 73 . This distinction is relevant as the Met allele approximates a 20–30% occurrence in Caucasian populations 75,76 compared to nearly 50% occurrence in Asian populations 77–79 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Acute exercise-induced enhancement of fear inhibition is moderated by BDNF Val66Met polymorphism

Keyan

Bryant

2019

Transl Psychiatry

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Rodent research indicates that acute physical exercise facilitates fear learning and inhibition. Expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) may moderate the memory enhancing effects of acute exercise. We assessed the role of acute exercise in modulating extinction retention in humans, and investigated the extent to which the BDNF polymorphism influenced extinction retention. Seventy non-clinical participants engaged in a differential fear potentiated startle paradigm involving conditioning and extinction followed by random assignment to either intense exercise ( n = 35) or no exercise ( n = 35). Extinction retention was assessed 24 h later. Saliva samples were collected to index BDNF genotype. Exercised participants displayed significantly lower fear 24 h later relative to non-exercised participants. Moderation analyses indicated that after controlling for gender, the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism moderated the relationship between exercise and fear recovery 24 h later, such that exercise was associated with greater fear recovery in individuals with the Met allele. These findings provide initial evidence that acute exercise can impact fear extinction in humans and this effect is reduced in Met-allele carriers. This finding accords with the role of BDNF in extinction learning, and has implications for augmenting exposure-based therapies for anxiety disorders.

show abstract

“…Preliminary human data are consistent with this possibility as well. Exercise fails to augment virtual-reality exposure to reduce fear of spiders in a largely non-clinical population (Jacquart et al , 2017), but is able to augment exposure therapy in patients diagnosed with PTSD (Powers et al , 2015). The Powers et al 2015 study used a small sample size, so more work should be done investigating the therapeutic effects of exercise in clinical populations.…”

Section: Effects Of Chronic Exercise On Fear Extinctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Running from fear: Exercise modulation of fear extinction

Tanner

Hake

Bouchet

et al. 2018

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Extinction-based exposure therapy is the most common behavioral therapy for anxiety and trauma-related disorders, but fear tends to resurface even after successful extinction. Identification of novel strategies to enhance fear extinction and reduce fear relapse is of paramount importance to mental health. Exercise can enhance cognitive function, but it is not yet well understood whether exercise can be an effective augmentation strategy for fear extinction. In the current review, we present the current state of knowledge on the effects of exercise on fear extinction. Effects of exercise duration, explanations for conflicting results, and potential mechanisms, focusing on a hypothesized role for dopamine, are all discussed. We also provide new data suggesting that the timing in which acute exercise occurs relative to fear extinction, is a crucial variable in determining whether exercise can enhance fear extinction. Clinical implications and ideas to guide future research endeavors in this area are provided.

show abstract

Effects of acute exercise on fear extinction in rats and exposure therapy in humans: Null findings from five experiments

Cited by 26 publications

References 83 publications

Physical exercise augmented cognitive behaviour therapy for older adults with generalised anxiety disorder (PEXACOG): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Physical exercise augmented cognitive behaviour therapy for older adults with generalised anxiety disorder (PEXACOG): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Acute exercise-induced enhancement of fear inhibition is moderated by BDNF Val66Met polymorphism

Running from fear: Exercise modulation of fear extinction

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About