Post-weaning housing conditions influence freezing during contextual fear conditioning in adult rats.

ABSTRACT: The present study aimed to investigate the influence of housing conditions on contextual fear memory malleability. Male Wistar rats were housed in enriched, standard, or impoverished conditions after weaning and remained in these conditions throughout the entire experiment. After six weeks into those housing conditions, all animals underwent a 3-day protocol including contextual fear conditioning (day 1), memory reactivation followed by systemic administration of midazolam or vehicle (day 2), and a retention test (day 3). Percentage freezing was used as a behavioral measure of contextual fear. There was no evidence for an effect of housing conditions on the sensitivity of contextual fear memory to amnestic effects of post-reactivation midazolam administration, and no indication for amnesti

SUBMITTER: Schroyens N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6314464 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature