title: Fear-potentiated startle in mice.
abstract: Pavlovian fear conditioning is frequently used to assess the behavioral, physiological, genetic and molecular correlates of learning and memory. In the typical Pavlovian conditioned fear procedure a neutral stimulus, such as a tone, is paired with a mildly aversive stimulus such as a foot shock. The tone conditioned stimulus (CS) comes to elicit a variety of behaviors that are indicative of learned fear. One of the more prominent of these behaviors is a potentiated acoustic startle response. While fear-potentiated startle in mice is qualitatively similar to that in rats, the stimulus parameters and procedures for producing optimum fear-potentiated startle in mice differ considerably from those used in rats. Procedures outlined in this unit include initial assessment of startle, fear conditioning and fear-potentiated startle testing. Special attention is paid to the parameters that affect the magnitude of fear-potentiated startle and procedures designed to systematically examine these parameters are included.
authors.affiliation: The University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA.
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Falls
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006799:Housing, Animal; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008808:Mice, Inbred CBA; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000502:physiology*; D013045:Species Specificity