Effects of Pavlovian fear conditioning on septohippocampal metabolism in rats

Enhanced metabolic capacity of the frontal cerebral cortex after Pavlovian conditioning

While Pavlovian conditioning alters stimulus-evoked metabolic activity in the cerebral cortex, less is known about the effects of Pavlovian conditioning on neuronal metabolic capacity. Pavlovian conditioning may increase prefrontal cortical metabolic capacity, as suggested by evidence of changes in cortical synaptic strengths, and evidence for a shift in memory initially processed in subcortical regions to more distributed prefrontal cortical circuits. Quantitative cytochrome oxidase histochemistry was used to measure cumulative changes in brain metabolic capacity associated with both cued and contextual Pavlovian conditioning in rats. The cued conditioned group received tone-foot-shock pairings to elicit a conditioned freezing response to the tone conditioned stimulus, while the contextually conditioned group received pseudorandom tone-foot-shock pairings in an excitatory context. Untrained control group was handled daily, but did not receive any tone presentations or foot shocks. The cued conditioned group had higher cytochrome oxidase activity in the infralimbic and anterior cingulate cortex, and lower cytochrome oxidase activity in dorsal hippocampus than the other two groups. A significant increase in cytochrome oxidase activity was found in anterior cortical areas (medial, dorsal and lateral frontal cortex; agranular insular cortex; lateral and medial orbital cortex and prelimbic cortex) in both conditioned groups, as compared with the untrained control group. In addition, no differences in cytochrome oxidase activity in the somatosensory regions and the amygdala were detected among all groups. The findings indicate that cued and contextual Pavlovian conditioning induces sustained increases in frontal cortical neuronal metabolic demand resulting in regional enhancement in the metabolic capacity of anterior cortical regions. Enhanced metabolic capacity of these anterior cortical areas after Pavlovian conditioning suggests that the frontal cortex may play a role in the retention and regulation of learned associations.

Functional networks underlying latent inhibition learning in the mouse brain

The present study reports the first comprehensive map of brain networks underlying latent inhibition learning and the first application of structural equation modeling to cytochrome oxidase data. In latent inhibition, repeated exposure to a stimulus results in a latent form of learning that inhibits subsequent associations with that stimulus. As neuronal energy demands to form learned associations changes, so does the induction of the respiratory enzyme cytochrome oxidase. Therefore, cytochrome oxidase can be used as an endpoint metabolic marker of the effects of experience on regional brain metabolic capacity. Quantitative cytochrome oxidase histochemistry was used to map brain regions in mice trained on a tone-footshock fear conditioning paradigm with either tone preexposure (latent inhibition), conditioning only (acquisition), conditioning followed by tone alone (extinction), or no handling or conditioning (naive). The ventral cochlear nucleus, medial geniculate, CA1 hippocampus, and perirhinal cortex showed modified metabolic capacity due to latent inhibition. Structural equation modeling was used to determine the causal influences in an anatomical network of these regions and others thought to mediate latent inhibition, including the accumbens and entorhinal cortex. An uncoupling of ascending influences between auditory regions was observed in latent inhibition. There was also a reduced influence on the accumbens from the perirhinal cortex in both latent inhibition and extinction. The results suggest a specific network with a neural mechanism of latent inhibition that appears to involve sensory gating, as evidenced by modifications in metabolic capacity and effective connectivity between auditory regions and reduced perirhinal cortex influence on the accumbens.

Chronic stress impairs acoustic conditioning more than visual conditioning in rats: morphological and behavioural evidence

Chronic stress affects brain areas involved in learning and emotional responses. These alterations have been related with the development of cognitive deficits in major depression. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of chronic immobilization stress on the auditory and visual mesencephalic regions in the rat brain. We analyzed in Golgi preparations whether stress impairs the neuronal morphology of the inferior (auditory processing) and superior colliculi (visual processing). Afterward, we examined the effect of stress on acoustic and visual conditioning using an avoidance conditioning test. We found that stress induced dendritic atrophy in inferior colliculus neurons and did not affect neuronal morphology in the superior colliculus. Furthermore, stressed rats showed a stronger impairment in acoustic conditioning than in visual conditioning. Fifteen days post-stress the inferior colliculus neurons completely restored their dendritic structure, showing a high level of neural plasticity that is correlated with an improvement in acoustic learning. These results suggest that chronic stress has more deleterious effects in the subcortical auditory system than in the visual system and may affect the aversive system and fear-like behaviors. Our study opens a new approach to understand the pathophysiology of stress and stress-related disorders such as major depression.

Behavioral Changes Induced in Rats by Exposure to Trimethylthiazoline, a Component of Fox Odor

Trimethylthiazoline (TMT), a component of fox feces, has been used in various studies as a natural predator stimulus to induce autonomic and behavioral signs of fear (e.g., higher levels of stress hormones, freezing, and risk assessment). The present study investigated whether 2 further behavioral signs of fear are induced in rats by TMT exposure: potentiation of the acoustic startle response and inhibition of appetitive behavior. In addition, the authors tested the rats for dose dependency of TMT-induced freezing behavior. The study confirmed that behavioral changes observed during TMT exposure are caused by TMT-induced fear and are dose dependent.