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Co-existence of ethanol-related respiratory and motivational learning processes based on a tactile discrimination procedure in neonatal rats. Alcohol 2020; 85:65-76. [PMID: 31734305 DOI: 10.1016/j.alcohol.2019.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2019] [Revised: 11/04/2019] [Accepted: 11/04/2019] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
In rats, high ethanol doses during early postnatal life exert deleterious effects upon brain development that impact diverse social and cognitive abilities. This stage in development partially overlaps with the third human gestational trimester, commonly referred to as the brain growth spurt period. At this stage in development, human fetuses and rat neonates (postnatal days [PD] 3-9) exhibit relatively high respiratory rates that are affected by subteratogenic ethanol doses. Recent studies suggest conditioned breathing responses in the developing organism, given that there are explicit associations between exteroceptive stimuli and the state of ethanol intoxication. Furthermore, studies performed with near-term rat fetuses suggest heightened sensitivity to ethanol's motivational effects. The present study was meant to analyze the unconditioned effects of ethanol intoxication and the possible co-occurrence of learning mechanisms that can impact respiratory plasticity, and to analyze the preference for cues that signal the state of intoxication as well as the effects of the drug, related with motor stimulation. Neonatal rats were subjected to differential experiences with salient tactile cues explicitly paired or not paired with the effects of vehicle or ethanol (2.0 g/kg). A tactile discrimination procedure applied during PDs 3, 5, 7, and 9 allowed the identification of the emergence of ethanol-derived non-associative and associative learning processes that affect breathing plasticity, particularly when considering apneic disruptions. Ethanol was found to partially inhibit the disruptions that appeared to be intimately related with stressful circumstances defined by the experimental procedure. Tactile cues paired with the drug's effects were also observed to exert an inhibitory effect upon these breathing disruptions. The level of contingency between a given tactile cue and ethanol intoxication also resulted in significant changes in the probability of seeking this cue in a tactile preference test. In addition, the state of intoxication exerted motor-stimulating effects. When contrasting the data obtained via the analysis of the different dependent variables, it appears that most ethanol-derived changes are modulated by positive and/or negative (anti-anxiety) reinforcing effects of the drug. As a whole, the study indicates co-existence of ethanol-related functional changes in the developing organism that simultaneously affect respiratory plasticity and preference patterns elicited by stimuli that signal ethanol's motivational effects. These results emphasize the need to consider significant alterations due to minimal ethanol experiences that argue against "safe" levels of exposure in a critical stage in brain development.
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Park CHJ, Ganella DE, Kim JH. Context fear learning and renewal of extinguished fear are dissociated in juvenile female rats. Dev Psychobiol 2019; 62:123-129. [PMID: 31267536 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2019] [Revised: 06/10/2019] [Accepted: 06/11/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Extinction is the decrease in emotion to a cue that was previously associated with an emotionally significant event. It involves repeated presentation of the cue without any consequences. In adult animals, extinguished fear to a cue can return if the cue is presented in a different environment/context to where extinction occurred, referred to as renewal. We have previously reported that developing female, but not male, rats show renewal. This study investigates whether the ability of developing female rats to show renewal is related to their ability in fear conditioning to the context. Additionally, facilitation of context conditioning by weaning previously shown in male rats was tested in developing female rats. In experiment 1, postnatal day 25 (P25) and P18 female rats showed renewal. P25 rats show more fear overall, suggesting a weaker extinction recall in this age. Experiment 2 tested context- and cue-elicited fear either immediately or 24 hr following conditioning. At the immediate test, P18 rats showed less context-fear compared with P25 rats. All rats showed low levels of context-fear at the 24 hr test. There were no age differences in cued fear. Weaning at P21 did not affect context or cue memory in P25 female rats. These findings suggest that the ability to form contextual fear memory is unrelated to the expression of renewal in juvenile female rats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chun Hui J Park
- Mental Health Theme, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.,Florey Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Despina E Ganella
- Mental Health Theme, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.,Florey Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Jee Hyun Kim
- Mental Health Theme, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.,Florey Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
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3
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King G, Baker KD, Bisby MA, Chan D, Cowan CSM, Stylianakis AA, Zimmermann KS, Richardson R. A precision medicine approach to pharmacological adjuncts to extinction: a call to broaden research. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2019; 236:143-161. [PMID: 30116858 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-018-4999-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2018] [Accepted: 08/07/2018] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
There is a pressing need to improve treatments for anxiety. Although exposure-based therapy is currently the gold-standard treatment, many people either do not respond to this therapy or experience a relapse of symptoms after treatment has ceased. In recent years, there have been many novel pharmacological agents identified in preclinical research that have potential as adjuncts for exposure therapy, yet very few of these are regularly integrated into clinical practice. Unfortunately, the robust effects observed in the laboratory animal often do not translate to a clinical population. In this review, we discuss how age, sex, genetics, stress, medications, diet, alcohol, and the microbiome can vary across a clinical population and yet are rarely considered in drug development. While not an exhaustive list, we have focused on these factors because they have been shown to influence an individual's vulnerability to anxiety and alter the neurotransmitter systems often targeted by pharmacological adjuncts to therapy. We argue that for potential adjuncts to be successfully translated from the lab to the clinic empirical research must be broadened to consider how individual difference factors will influence drug efficacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabrielle King
- School of Psychology, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
| | - Kathryn D Baker
- School of Psychology, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
| | - Madelyne A Bisby
- School of Psychology, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
| | - Diana Chan
- School of Psychology, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
| | | | | | | | - Rick Richardson
- School of Psychology, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
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4
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Park CHJ, Ganella DE, Kim JH. Juvenile female rats, but not male rats, show renewal, reinstatement, and spontaneous recovery following extinction of conditioned fear. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2017; 24:630-636. [PMID: 29142058 PMCID: PMC5688961 DOI: 10.1101/lm.045831.117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2017] [Accepted: 08/25/2017] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Anxiety disorders emerge early, and girls are significantly more likely to develop anxiety compared to boys. However, sex differences in fear during development are poorly understood. Therefore, we investigated juvenile male and female rats in the relapse behaviors following extinction of conditioned fear. In all experiments, 18-d-old rats first received three white-noise–footshock pairings on day 1. On day 2, extinction involved 60 white-noise alone trials. In experiment 1, we examined renewal by testing the rats in either the same or different context as extinction on day 3. Male rats did not show renewal, however, female rats showed renewal. Experiment 2 investigated reinstatement by giving rats either a mild reminder footshock or context exposure on day 3. When tested the next day, male rats did not show reinstatement, whereas female rats showed reinstatement. Experiment 3 investigated spontaneous recovery by testing the rats either 1 or 5 d following extinction. Male rats did not show any spontaneous recovery whereas female rats did. Taken together, fear regulation appear to be different in males versus females from early in development, which may explain why girls are more prone to suffer from anxiety disorders compared to boys.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chun Hui J Park
- Behavioural Neuroscience Division, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Parkville, VIC 3052 Australia.,Florey Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3052 Australia
| | - Despina E Ganella
- Behavioural Neuroscience Division, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Parkville, VIC 3052 Australia.,Florey Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3052 Australia
| | - Jee Hyun Kim
- Behavioural Neuroscience Division, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Parkville, VIC 3052 Australia.,Florey Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3052 Australia
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5
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Baker KD, Richardson R. Pharmacological evidence that a failure to recruit NMDA receptors contributes to impaired fear extinction retention in adolescent rats. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2017; 143:18-26. [DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2016.10.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2016] [Revised: 10/12/2016] [Accepted: 10/26/2016] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
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6
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Kim JH. Reducing Fear During Childhood to Prevent Anxiety Disorders Later: Insights From Developmental Psychobiology. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2017. [DOI: 10.1177/2372732217719544] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Anxiety disorders are neurodevelopmental with the median age of onset 10 to 11 years, but developmental processes underlying fear and anxiety are rarely investigated. In the last decade, however, developmental rodent studies have increased our understanding of how to treat and prevent the persistence of anxiety. Behavioral findings from rodent studies match the observations in anxious children, and the neural and molecular findings help explain why anxiety disorders are indeed neurodevelopmental. Extinction processes that are involved in cognitive-behavioral therapy appear particularly effective in children compared with older populations. Policy should mandate school psychologists and government subsidies for therapy sessions to increase children’s mental-health-service utilization. Funding bodies also should challenge anxiety studies exclusively targeting adults to include younger people to investigate why anxiety disorders are developmental disorders and focus more on preventing their persistence later in life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jee Hyun Kim
- The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
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7
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Castelló S, Molina JC, Arias C. Long-term contextual memory in infant rats as evidenced by an ethanol conditioned tolerance procedure. Behav Brain Res 2017; 332:243-249. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2017.06.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2017] [Revised: 06/01/2017] [Accepted: 06/07/2017] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
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8
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Park CHJ, Ganella DE, Kim JH. A dissociation between renewal and contextual fear conditioning in juvenile rats. Dev Psychobiol 2017; 59:515-522. [PMID: 28383773 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21516] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2017] [Accepted: 03/03/2017] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
We investigated whether juvenile rats do not express renewal following extinction of conditioned fear due to their inability to form a long-term contextual fear memory. In experiment 1, postnatal day (P) 18 and 25 rats received 3 white-noise and footshock pairings, followed by 60 white-noise alone presentations the next day. When tested in a different context to extinction, P25 rats displayed renewal whereas P18 rats did not. Experiments 2A and 2B surprisingly showed that P18 and P25 rats do not show differences in contextual and cued fear, regardless of the conditioning-test intervals and the number of white-noise-footshock pairings received. Finally, we observed age differences in contextual fear when P25 rats were weaned at P21 in experiment 3. These results indicate that the developmental dissociation observed in renewal of extinguished fear is not related to the widely believed late emergence of contextual fear learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chun Hui J Park
- Behavioural Neuroscience Division, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.,Florey Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Despina E Ganella
- Behavioural Neuroscience Division, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.,Florey Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Jee Hyun Kim
- Behavioural Neuroscience Division, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.,Florey Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
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9
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Orellana Barrera E, Arias C, González F, Abate P. Context-dependent extinction of an appetitive operant conditioned response in infant rats. Dev Psychobiol 2017; 59:348-356. [PMID: 28294331 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21499] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2016] [Accepted: 12/14/2016] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
The present study evaluated context-dependent learning under an operant conditioning procedure in infant rats. Preweanling rats were trained in context A during postnatal days (PDs) 16 and 17 to learn an appetitive operant conditioning task, employing milk chocolate as appetitive reinforcer. On PD18 the operant response was extinguished in context A, or in an alternative context B. The change from context A to B between acquisition and extinction did not affect the number of responses during extinction, but slightly modified the shape of the extinction curve. On PD19, a renewal test conducted in context A clearly showed ABA-renewal of the extinguished operant response. These results add to the body of evidence indicating that infants are able to acquire and retain contextual information, and support the notion that extinction during this ontogenetic period involves new learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Estefanía Orellana Barrera
- Instituto de Investigación Médica M. y M. Ferreyra, INIMEC-CONICET-UNC, Córdoba, Argentina.,Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Enfermera Gordillo esq. Enrique Barros, Ciudad Universitaria., Córdoba, Argentina
| | - Carlos Arias
- Instituto de Investigación Médica M. y M. Ferreyra, INIMEC-CONICET-UNC, Córdoba, Argentina.,Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Enfermera Gordillo esq. Enrique Barros, Ciudad Universitaria., Córdoba, Argentina
| | - Felisa González
- Centro de Investigación Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento, (CIMCYC) Universidad de Granada, Granada, España
| | - Paula Abate
- Instituto de Investigación Médica M. y M. Ferreyra, INIMEC-CONICET-UNC, Córdoba, Argentina.,Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Enfermera Gordillo esq. Enrique Barros, Ciudad Universitaria., Córdoba, Argentina
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10
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Revillo DA, Trebucq G, Paglini MG, Arias C. Reinstatement of an extinguished fear conditioned response in infant rats. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2015; 23:1-8. [PMID: 26670181 PMCID: PMC4749841 DOI: 10.1101/lm.038919.115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2015] [Accepted: 09/28/2015] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Although it is currently accepted that the extinction effect reflects new context-dependent learning, this is not so clear during infancy, because some studies did not find recovery of the extinguished conditioned response (CR) in rodents during this ontogenetic stage. However, recent studies have shown the return of an extinguished CR in infant rats. The present study analyzes the possibility of recovering an extinguished CR with a reinstatement procedure in a fear conditioning paradigm, on PD17 (Experiments 1-4) and on PD24 (Experiment 5), while exploring the role of the olfactory content of the context upon the reinstatement effect during the preweanling period. Preweanling rats expressed a previously extinguished CR after a single experience with an unsignaled US. Furthermore, this result was only found when subjects were trained and tested in contexts that included an explicit odor, but not in standard experimental cages. Finally, Experiment 5 demonstrated the reinstatement effect on PD24 in a standard context. These results support the notion that extinction during infancy has the same characteristics as those described for extinction that occurs in adulthood. Instead of postulating a different mechanism for extinction during infancy, we propose that it may be more accurate to view the problem in terms of the variables that may differentially modulate the extinction effect according to the stages of ontogeny.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damian A Revillo
- Instituto de Investigación Médica M. y M. Ferreyra, IMMF-INIMEC-CONICET-UNIVERSIDAD NACIAONAL DE CÓRDOBA, Friuli 2434, Córdoba, Argentina
| | - Gastón Trebucq
- Instituto de Investigación Médica M. y M. Ferreyra, IMMF-INIMEC-CONICET-UNIVERSIDAD NACIAONAL DE CÓRDOBA, Friuli 2434, Córdoba, Argentina
| | - Maria G Paglini
- Instituto de Investigación Médica M. y M. Ferreyra, IMMF-INIMEC-CONICET-UNIVERSIDAD NACIAONAL DE CÓRDOBA, Friuli 2434, Córdoba, Argentina
| | - Carlos Arias
- Instituto de Investigación Médica M. y M. Ferreyra, IMMF-INIMEC-CONICET-UNIVERSIDAD NACIAONAL DE CÓRDOBA, Friuli 2434, Córdoba, Argentina
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11
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Revillo D, Cotella E, Paglini M, Arias C. Contextual learning and context effects during infancy: 30years of controversial research revisited. Physiol Behav 2015; 148:6-21. [DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2015.02.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2014] [Revised: 11/25/2014] [Accepted: 02/03/2015] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
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12
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Castello S, Revillo D, Molina J, Arias C. Ethanol-induced tolerance and sex-dependent sensitization in preweanling rats. Physiol Behav 2015; 139:50-8. [DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2014.11.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2014] [Revised: 10/31/2014] [Accepted: 11/03/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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13
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Spontaneous recovery from extinction in the infant rat. Behav Brain Res 2014; 274:149-57. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2014.08.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2014] [Revised: 07/10/2014] [Accepted: 08/04/2014] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
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14
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Revillo DA, Gaztañaga M, Aranda E, Paglini MG, Chotro MG, Arias C. Context-dependent latent inhibition in preweanling rats. Dev Psychobiol 2014; 56:1507-17. [PMID: 25209712 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2014] [Accepted: 06/11/2014] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Preexposure to a conditioned stimulus (CS) usually weakens conditioning, an effect known as latent inhibition. Similar to other learning interference effects, latent inhibition has been characterized as context-dependent, which means that the magnitude of this effect can be attenuated by changing the context between the different phases of the procedure (e.g., preexposure and conditioning). Latent inhibition has been found with a variety of procedures in infant rats, but the few studies that examined the context-dependency of this phenomenon during this ontogenetic period found no context-change effect. The present study explored the context-dependency of latent inhibition during infancy using a conditioned taste aversion preparation and employing contexts enriched with distinctive odors to increase the possible efficacy of the context manipulation. Experiment 1 showed that three preexposures to the CS (saccharin) were sufficient to retard conditioning to the same CS, although this effect was also observed in a control group preexposed to an alternative taste stimulus (saline), in comparison with a non-preexposed control group. In Experiment 2a, the CS-preexposure effect was found to be specific to the preexposed CS when the number of preexposures was increased. This effect was revealed as context-dependent in Experiment 2b, since it was attenuated by changing the context between preexposure and conditioning. The present result is consistent with recent studies showing the context-dependency of extinction in preweanling rats, thus demonstrating these animals' capacity to learn about context early on in their development.
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Affiliation(s)
- D A Revillo
- Instituto de Investigación Médica M. y M. Ferreyra, IMMF-INIMEC-CONICET-UNC, Friuli 2434, Córdoba, Argentina
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15
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Burman MA, Erickson KJ, Deal AL, Jacobson RE. Contextual and auditory fear conditioning continue to emerge during the periweaning period in rats. PLoS One 2014; 9:e100807. [PMID: 24977415 PMCID: PMC4076234 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0100807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2014] [Accepted: 05/29/2014] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Anxiety disorders often emerge during childhood. Rodent models using classical fear conditioning have shown that different types of fear depend upon different neural structures and may emerge at different stages of development. For example, some work has suggested that contextual fear conditioning generally emerges later in development (postnatal day 23–24) than explicitly cued fear conditioning (postnatal day 15–17) in rats. This has been attributed to an inability of younger subjects to form a representation of the context due to an immature hippocampus. However, evidence that contextual fear can be observed in postnatal day 17 subjects and that cued fear conditioning continues to emerge past this age raises questions about the nature of this deficit. The current studies examine this question using both the context pre-exposure facilitation effect for immediate single-shock contextual fear conditioning and traditional cued fear conditioning using Sprague-Dawley rats. The data suggest that both cued and contextual fear conditioning are continuing to develop between PD 17 and 24, consistent with development occurring the in essential fear conditioning circuit.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael A. Burman
- Department of Psychology, Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences, University of New England, Biddeford, Maine, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Kristen J. Erickson
- Department of Psychology, Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences, University of New England, Biddeford, Maine, United States of America
| | - Alex L. Deal
- Department of Psychology, Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences, University of New England, Biddeford, Maine, United States of America
| | - Rose E. Jacobson
- Department of Biology, University of New England, Biddeford, Maine, United States of America
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Abstract
Whereas fear memories are rapidly acquired and enduring over time, extinction memories are slow to form and are susceptible to disruption. Consequently, behavioral therapies that involve extinction learning (e.g., exposure therapy) often produce only temporary suppression of fear and anxiety. This review focuses on the factors that are known to influence the relapse of extinguished fear. Several phenomena associated with the return of fear after extinction are discussed, including renewal, spontaneous recovery, reacquisition, and reinstatement. Additionally, this review describes recent work, which has focused on the role of psychological stress in the relapse of extinguished fear. Recent developments in behavioral and pharmacological research are examined in light of treatment of pathological fear in humans.
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