Abstract

LEON, LAURA A. et al. Effect of Acute Fluoxetine Application on a Context Fear Conditioned Task in Behaviorally Restrained Rats. Univ. Psychol. [online]. 2010, vol.9, n.3, pp.689-696. ISSN 1657-9267.

In order to study the effect of behavioral or pharmacologically enhanced anxiety on the acquisition of contextual fear conditioning, thirty two Wistar rats (275 ±25 gm) were divided in two groups (behavioral restriction and control). Half of each group received saline solution (ig.; 0.9%) or fluoxetine (ig.; 4mg/Kg) before the fear conditioning procedure. The two way ANOVA showed significant differences for treatment (F_[1,28] = 25.261; P < 0.001). Student Newman-Keuls showed that subjects treated with fluoxetine had lower freezing times. There were no significant differences nor for restriction neither for the interaction between the factors (F_[1,28] = 0.115; P = 0.737 y F_[1,28] = 0.016; P = 0.899). Thus, the restriction procedure used did not modify the acquisition of the conditioned fear response suggesting that the putative 5-HT enhancement induced is not comparable to that induced by fluoxetine. Acute fluoxetine disrupted the acquisition of the conditioned fear response, suggesting that the mechanism by means of which anxiety disrupts learning could be serotonergic in nature.

Keywords : Fluoxetine; Emotional Memory; Conditioned Fear; Serotonin; Rat; Fluoxetine; Serotonin; Rats; Psychology; Fear; Drug Effects.

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