Propofol-induced deep sedation reduces emotional episodic memory reconsolidation

A method to selectively impair reconsolidation of specific emotional or traumatic memories in humans could translate to an effective treatment for conditions such as posttraumatic stress disorder. One dose of propofol following memory reactivation selectively impaired subsequent emotional episodic memory retrieval in a time-dependent manner, consistent with reconsolidation impairment. We therefore tested the hypothesis that the intravenous anesthetic propofol impairs reconsolidation of emotional memories reactivated immediately before anesthetic administration in psychiatrically and neurologically healthy individuals who had been referred for endoscopy for clinical indications.

Source: advances.sciencemag.org