Stimulation of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor-α by N-Palmitoylethanolamine Engages Allopregnanolone Biosynthesis to Modulate Emotional Behavior
Laboratory studyOther animals
- Design
- Laboratory study
- Subjects
- Socially isolated and group-housed mice in a post-traumatic stress disorder model; numbers not stated in the abstract
- Dose used in the study
- Palmitoylethanolamide; dose and route not stated in the abstract; compared with the PPAR-alpha agonists fenofibrate and GW7647
- Duration
- Not stated in the abstract
- What was measured
- Contextual fear extinction and retention, elevated plus maze, forced swim and tail suspension tests; brain allopregnanolone and neurosteroid enzyme levels.
What the authors reported
The study found:
- PEA facilitated fear extinction and its retention and produced marked antidepressant- and anxiolytic-like effects in isolated mice with low brain allopregnanolone.
- Fenofibrate and GW7647 mimicked this.
- PPAR-alpha deletion, antagonists and neurosteroid enzyme inhibitors prevented it.
- Improvements correlated with higher PPAR-alpha, enzyme expression and normalised allopregnanolone.
Limits of this study
A mouse model; it cannot show effect in people. Dose, route and numbers are not in the abstract. Funding and conflicts not stated in the abstract.
Source
PubMed 30955840 · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2019.02.006
Entry checked against the abstract on PubMed on 2026-09-22. The dose shown is the dose the researchers used. It is not a recommendation. How to read this page.