Anterograde effects of a single electroconvulsive shock on inhibitory avoidance and on cued fear conditioning

• Autor(a) principal: Oliveira, Maria Gabriela Menezes de [UNIFESP]
• Data de Publicação: 1998
• Outros Autores: Bueno, Orlando Francisco Amodeo [UNIFESP], Gugliano, Eric Boragan [UNIFESP]
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNIFESP
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.unifesp.br/handle/11600/659; http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0100-879X1998000800009
• topic: electroconvulsive shock; memory; cued fear conditioning; inhibitory avoidance; anxiolytic effect; analgesic effect

A single electroconvulsive shock (ECS) or a sham ECS was administered to male 3-4-month-old Wistar rats 1, 2, and 4 h before training in an inhibitory avoidance test and in cued classical fear conditioning (measured by means of freezing time in a new environment). ECS impaired inhibitory avoidance at all times and, at 1 or 2 h before training, reduced freezing time before and after re-presentation of the ECS. These results are interpreted as a transient conditioned stimulus (CS)-induced anxiolytic or analgesic effect lasting about 2 h after a single treatment, in addition to the known amnesic effect of the stimulus. This suggests that the effect of anterograde learning impairment is demonstrated unequivocally only when the analgesic/anxiolytic effect is over (about 4 h after ECS administration) and that this impairment of learning is selective, affecting inhibitory avoidance but not classical fear conditioning to a discrete stimulus.