Modulation of an activity response with associative and nonassociative fear in the rat: A lighting differential influences the form of defensive behavior evoked after fear conditioning

Godsil, Bill P.; Blackmore, Michelle A.; Fanselow, Michael S.

doi:10.3758/bf03193184

Cited by 19 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…It has been demonstrated previously that behavioral responses such as freezing observed in the presence of bright light differ greatly from those observed for footshock and other aversive stimuli [12, 13]. This indicates that bright light as a stressor/aversive stimulus is activating different neural and behavioral responses than those produced by footshock.…”

Section: Experiments 3: Escape and Avoidancementioning

confidence: 91%

Brief light as a practical aversive stimulus for the albino rat

Barker

Sanabria

Lasswell

et al. 2010

Behavioural Brain Research

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Bright light was an effective aversive stimulus for Wistar rats in punishment, escape, and avoidance paradigms. Contingent punishment of lever-pressing maintained by concurrent schedules of food delivery shifted presses to an alternate lever, and depressed overall response rates. Periodic non-contingent presentation of the light prompted escape responding (head entry into a hole). Unsignaled avoidance contingencies were not effective, but pre-pulse signaling of light supported avoidance behavior. These results demonstrate a possible alternative to foot-shock, one with greater ecological validity, and one that might avoid some of the physiological effects that accompany electric shock. KeywordsAvoidance; Escape; Punishment; Burrow; Light Aversion; Rat Electric footshock has served as the prototypical aversive stimulus in experimental preparations using rats [34,30]. Footshock is popular for its reliability, utility at a wide range of current, and the feasibility of titrating shock levels for individual subjects. But electric shock has its downsides: It often induces secondary effects such as long term sleep disruption [41], altered social behavior [27], reduction in locomotion, rearing, and grooming behaviors, as well as an increase in immobility and defecation [45]. Footshock has also received criticism when used to model conditions such as depression or anxiety disorder that are produced by stressors that lack a comparable component of pain [28]. Finally, the nature

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Section: Experiments 3: Escape and Avoidancementioning

confidence: 91%

Brief light as a practical aversive stimulus for the albino rat

Barker

Sanabria

Lasswell

et al. 2010

Behavioural Brain Research

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“…This task utilized a modified version of the open field test, a classic test of anxiety-related behavior in rodents ( Godsil et al, 2005 ; Godsil and Fanselow, 2004 ). The apparatus consisted of a clear plastic container (78 cm × 39 cm x 30 cm) divided into 4 equal-sized zones (19.5 cm × 39 cm).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of stress resilience and susceptibility on fear learning, anxiety, and alcohol intake

Gonzalez

Marty

Spigelman

et al. 2021

Neurobiology of Stress

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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can develop after exposure to traumatic events and severely impacts the quality of life. PTSD is frequently comorbid with substance use disorders, with alcoholism being particularly common. However, not everyone who experiences trauma develops PTSD and the factors that render individuals susceptible or resilient to the effects of stress are unknown although gender appears to play an important role. Rodent models of stress exposure such as stress-enhanced fear learning (SEFL) recapitulate some aspects of PTSD symptomology, making them an invaluable tool for studying this disorder. This study examined whether exposure to a modified version of the SEFL procedure (4 footshocks instead of the standard 15 over 90 min) would reveal both susceptible and resilient subjects. Following stress exposure, distinct susceptible and resilient groups emerged that differed in fear learning and anxiety-related behavior as well as voluntary alcohol intake. Some aspects of stress susceptibility manifested differently in males compared to females, with susceptibility associated with increased alcohol intake in males and increased baseline anxiety in females.

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“…The light gradient open field task was used to measure classical anxiety-like behaviors (locomotion, velocity, thigmotaxis) (44)(45)(46) with the addition of the sudden onset of bright light at one end of the arena that causes an activity response to the change in environmental conditions (47,48). This task also offers a novel way to measure photophobia, or sensitivity to light, by measuring the amount of time the animal spends in the zone farthest from the light source.…”

Section: Experiments 2: Context Fearmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex Differences in Behavioral Sensitivities After Traumatic Brain Injury

et al. 2020

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Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with high rates of post-injury psychiatric and neurological comorbidities. TBI is more common in males than females despite females reporting more symptoms and longer recovery following TBI and concussion. Both pain and mental health conditions like anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are more common in women in the general population, however the dimorphic comorbidity in the TBI population is not well-understood. TBI may predispose the development of maladaptive anxiety or PTSD following a traumatic stressor, and the impact of sex on this interaction has not been investigated. We have shown that white noise is noxious to male rats following fluid percussion injury (FPI) and increases fear learning when used in auditory fear conditioning, but it is unclear whether females exhibit a similar phenotype. Adult female and male rats received either lateral FPI or sham surgery and 48 h later received behavioral training. We first investigated sex differences in response to 75 dB white noise followed by white noise-signaled fear conditioning. FPI groups exhibited defensive behavior to the white noise, which was significantly more robust in females, suggesting FPI increased auditory sensitivity. In another experiment, we asked how FPI affects contextual fear learning in females and males following unsignaled footshocks of either strong (0.9 mA) or weaker (0.5 mA) intensity. We saw that FPI led to rapid acquisition of contextual fear compared to sham. A consistent pattern of increased contextual fear after TBI was apparent in both sexes across experiments under differing conditioning protocols. Using a light gradient open field task we found that FPI females showed a defensive photophobia response to light, a novel finding supporting TBI enhanced sensory sensitivity across modalities in females. General behavioral differences among our measures were observed between sexes and discussed with respect to interpretations of TBI effects for each sex. Together our data support enhanced fear following a traumatic stressor after TBI in both sexes, where females show greater sensitivity to sensory stimuli across multiple modalities. These data demonstrate sex differences in emergent defensive phenotypes following TBI that may contribute to comorbid PTSD, anxiety, and other neurological comorbidities.

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Modulation of an activity response with associative and nonassociative fear in the rat: A lighting differential influences the form of defensive behavior evoked after fear conditioning

Cited by 19 publications

References 30 publications

Brief light as a practical aversive stimulus for the albino rat

Brief light as a practical aversive stimulus for the albino rat

Impact of stress resilience and susceptibility on fear learning, anxiety, and alcohol intake

Sex Differences in Behavioral Sensitivities After Traumatic Brain Injury

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