Vasopressin in the lateral septum promotes elemental conditioning to the detriment of contextual fear conditioning in mice.
Previous experiments using a classical fear conditioning paradigm have provided evidence that the processing of contextual conditional stimuli (CSs) by the hippocampus would be controlled by the amygdala through a modulation of hippocampal-lateral septal (H-LS) excitability. More specifically, our suggestion was that vasopressin release into the LS would occur in an elemental conditioning case [pairing CS-US (unconditional stimulus) procedure] and would result in less hippocampal-dependent contextual stimuli processing (i.e. overshadowing of CSs by the simple CS). Conversely, when an unpairing CS-US procedure is used, this would result in more contextual stimuli processing through a decrease in vasopressin release into the LS. The aim of the present experiment was to test this hypothesis using intraseptal injection of vasopressin or its V1/V2 antagonist. In agreement with this hypothesis, results suggest that vasopressin release into the LS would constitute a device by which priority is given to the more salient simple stimulus to the detriment of contextual information.
Desmedt
A
A
Laboratoire de Neurosciences Comportementales et Cognitives, CNRS UMR 5807, Ave des Facultés, 33405 Talence, France. a.desmedt@neurocog.u-bordeaux.fr
Garcia
R
R
Jaffard
R
R
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000679:Amygdala / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001127:Arginine Vasopressin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D004597:Electroshock; D005239:Fear / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008845:Microinjections; D008959:Models, Neurological; D008960:Models, Psychological; D012688:Septum Pellucidum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
D001127:Arginine Vasopressin