TY - JOUR
T1 - Evidence for the involvement of extinction-associated inhibitory learning in the forced swimming test
AU - Campus, P.
AU - Colelli, V.
AU - Orsini, C.
AU - Sarra, D.
AU - Cabib, S.
PY - 2015/2/1
Y1 - 2015/2/1
N2 - The forced swimming test (FST) remains one of the most used tools for screening antidepressants in rodent models. Nonetheless, the nature of immobility, its main behavioral measure, is still a matter of debate. The present study took advantage of our recent finding that mice of the inbred DBA/2J strain require a functioning left dorsolateral striatum (DLS) to consolidate long-term memory of FST to test whether immobility is the outcome of stress-related learning.Infusion of the GABA-A agonist muscimol in the left DLS immediately after a single experience of FST prevented and infusion in the left or the right amygdala impaired recall of the acquired levels of immobility in a probe test performed 24. h later. Post-training left DLS infusion of muscimol, at a dose capable of preventing retention of FST-induced immobility, did not influence 24. h retention of inhibitory avoidance training or of the escape response acquired in a water T-maze. However, this same treatment prevented 24. h retention of the extinction training of the consolidated escape response.These results indicate that a left DLS-centered memory system selectively mediates memory consolidation of FST and of escape extinction and support the hypothesis that immobility is the result of extinction-like inhibitory learning involving all available escape responses due to the inescapable/unavoidable nature of FST experience.
AB - The forced swimming test (FST) remains one of the most used tools for screening antidepressants in rodent models. Nonetheless, the nature of immobility, its main behavioral measure, is still a matter of debate. The present study took advantage of our recent finding that mice of the inbred DBA/2J strain require a functioning left dorsolateral striatum (DLS) to consolidate long-term memory of FST to test whether immobility is the outcome of stress-related learning.Infusion of the GABA-A agonist muscimol in the left DLS immediately after a single experience of FST prevented and infusion in the left or the right amygdala impaired recall of the acquired levels of immobility in a probe test performed 24. h later. Post-training left DLS infusion of muscimol, at a dose capable of preventing retention of FST-induced immobility, did not influence 24. h retention of inhibitory avoidance training or of the escape response acquired in a water T-maze. However, this same treatment prevented 24. h retention of the extinction training of the consolidated escape response.These results indicate that a left DLS-centered memory system selectively mediates memory consolidation of FST and of escape extinction and support the hypothesis that immobility is the result of extinction-like inhibitory learning involving all available escape responses due to the inescapable/unavoidable nature of FST experience.
KW - Animal model
KW - Coping
KW - Depression
KW - Extinction
KW - Memory consolidation
KW - Stress
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84908628093&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84908628093&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.bbr.2014.10.009
DO - 10.1016/j.bbr.2014.10.009
M3 - Article
C2 - 25448432
AN - SCOPUS:84908628093
VL - 278
SP - 348
EP - 355
JO - Behavioural Brain Research
JF - Behavioural Brain Research
SN - 0166-4328
ER -