title: Fear-potentiated startle in two strains of inbred mice.
abstract: The fear-potentiated startle paradigm has been used with great success to examine conditioned fear in both rats and humans. The purpose of this study was to examine fear-potentiated startle in inbred mice. One-month-old C57BL/6J (C57) and DBA/2J (DBA) mice were given tone + foot shock training trials. The amplitude of the acoustic startle reflex was measured in the presence and absence of the tone both before and after training. Both strains showed fear-potentiated startle after training as evidenced by larger startle amplitudes in the presence of the tone than in its absence. However, the magnitude of fear-potentiated startle was greater in DBA mice than in C57 mice. These results not only demonstrate fear-potentiated startle in mice for the first time but also suggest that fear-potentiated startle can be influenced by characteristics of the mouse strain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb 60115, USA. wfalls@niu.edu
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Falls
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carlson
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Willott
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D004597:Electroshock; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D051381:Rats; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000235:genetics*; D013045:Species Specificity