title: Post-training injections of catecholaminergic drugs do not modulate fear conditioning in rats and mice.
abstract: Studies employing classical fear conditioning (FC) and inhibitory avoidance (IA), two procedurally different aversive tasks, provide different insight into the neuronal mechanism(s) underlying fear learning. We examined whether immediate post-training injections of catecholaminergic drugs modulate memory consolidation in one-trial FC, as has been demonstrated in one-trial IA. Neither epinephrine (0.1, 0.3, 1.0 mg/kg intraperitoneally) nor amphetamine (1.0, 2.0 mg/kg) modulates FC to tone or context, as indicated by freezing in rats. Similarly, epinephrine (0.1, 1.0 mg/kg) and beta-adrenergic antagonists (sotalol and propranolol; 2 mg/kg) also failed to modulate FC in mice. These results indicate that FC is not susceptible to memory modulation by catecholaminergic drugs in the manner described in IA tasks.
authors: Department of Psychology, Yale University, 2 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven, CT 06520-8205, USA.
authors: H J
authors: HJ
authors: Lee
authors: S Y
authors: SY
authors: Berger
authors: O
authors: O
authors: Stiedl
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Spiess
authors: J J
authors: JJ
authors: Kim
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000009:adverse effects; D000322:Adrenergic Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D000661:Amphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology; D000679:Amygdala / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002395:Catecholamines / Q000819:agonists* / Q000378:metabolism*; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000009:adverse effects; D004837:Epinephrine / Q000494:pharmacology; D005239:Fear / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans
chemical_list: D000322:Adrenergic Agonists; D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists; D002395:Catecholamines; D000661:Amphetamine; D004837:Epinephrine