title: Different role of the ventral medial prefrontal cortex on modulation of innate and associative learned fear.
abstract: Reversible inactivation of the ventral portion of medial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) of the rat brain has been shown to induce anxiolytic-like effects in animal models based on associative learning. The role of this brain region in situations involving innate fear, however, is still poorly understood, with several contradictory results in the literature. The objective of the present work was to verify in male Wistar rats the effects of vMPFC administration of cobalt chloride (CoCl(2)), a selective inhibitor of synaptic activity, in rats submitted to two models based on innate fear, the elevated plus-maze (EPM) and light-dark box (LDB), comparing the results with those obtained in two models involving associative learning, the contextual fear conditioning (CFC) and Vogel conflict (VCT) tests. The results showed that, whereas CoCl(2) induced anxiolytic-like effects in the CFC and VCT tests, it enhanced anxiety in rats submitted to the EPM and LDB. Together these results indicate that the vMPFC plays an important but complex role in the modulation of defensive-related behaviors, which seems to depend on the nature of the anxiety/fear inducing stimuli.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, 3900 Bandeirantes Avenue, 14049-900, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: S F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Lisboa
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Stecchini
authors.forename: F M A
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Corrêa
authors.forename: F S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Guimarães
authors.forename: L B M
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Resstel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001245:Association Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D003035:Cobalt / Q000633:toxicity; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D023421:Models, Animal; D009498:Neurotoxins / Q000633:toxicity; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D009498:Neurotoxins; D003035:Cobalt; C018021:cobaltous chloride