Enhancement of auditory fear conditioning after housing in a complex environment is attenuated by prior treatment with amphetamine.
Prior exposure to drugs of abuse has been shown to occlude the structural plasticity associated with living in a complex environment. Amphetamine treatment may also occlude some cognitive advantages normally associated with living in a complex environment. To test this hypothesis we examined the influence of prior exposure to amphetamine on fear conditioning in rats housed in either a standard or complex environment. Housing in a complex environment facilitated fear learning to an auditory conditioned stimulus (CS), but not to the training context, relative to animals housed singly or in a social group. Prior treatment with amphetamine eliminated this effect. These results indicate that living in a complex environment facilitates conditional freezing to an auditory CS, and that this effect is abolished by pretreatment with amphetamine.
Briand
Lisa A
LA
Neuroscience Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
Robinson
Terry E
TE
Maren
Stephen
S
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000661:Amphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D004777:Environment; D005239:Fear; D046352:Freezing Reaction, Cataleptic / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D006799:Housing, Animal; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D012931:Social Environment
D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D000661:Amphetamine