ITI-signals and prelimbic cortex facilitate avoidance acquisition and reduce avoidance latencies, respectively, in male WKY rats
As a model of anxiety disorder vulnerability, male Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats acquire lever-press avoidance behavior more readily than outbred Sprague Dawley rats, and their acquisition is enhanced by the presence of a discrete signal presented during the inter-trial intervals (ITIs), suggesting it is...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2014-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00403/full |
| _version_ | 1819011090474860544 |
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| author | Kevin D Beck Kevin D Beck Kevin D Beck Xilu eJiao Xilu eJiao Xilu eJiao Ian M. Smith Ian M. Smith Catherine E Myers Catherine E Myers Catherine E Myers Kevin ePang Kevin ePang Kevin ePang Richard J Servatius Richard J Servatius Richard J Servatius |
| author_facet | Kevin D Beck Kevin D Beck Kevin D Beck Xilu eJiao Xilu eJiao Xilu eJiao Ian M. Smith Ian M. Smith Catherine E Myers Catherine E Myers Catherine E Myers Kevin ePang Kevin ePang Kevin ePang Richard J Servatius Richard J Servatius Richard J Servatius |
| author_sort | Kevin D Beck |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | As a model of anxiety disorder vulnerability, male Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats acquire lever-press avoidance behavior more readily than outbred Sprague Dawley rats, and their acquisition is enhanced by the presence of a discrete signal presented during the inter-trial intervals (ITIs), suggesting it is perceived as a safety signal. A series of experiments were conducted to determine if this is the case. Additional experiments investigated if the avoidance facilitation relies upon processing through medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). The results suggest that the ITI-signal facilitates acquisition during the early stages of the avoidance acquisition process, when the rats are initially acquiring escape behavior and then transitioning to avoidance behavior. Post-avoidance introduction of the visual ITI-signal into other associative learning tasks failed to confirm that the visual stimulus had acquired the properties of a conditioned inhibitor. Shortening the signal from the entirety of the 3 min ITI to only the first 5 s of the 3 min ITI slowed acquisition during the first 4 sessions, suggesting the flashing light is not functioning as a feedback signal. The prelimbic (PL) cortex showed greater activation during the period of training when the transition from escape responding to avoidance responding occurs. Only combined PL+infralimbic cortex lesions modestly slowed avoidance acquisition, but PL cortex lesions slowed avoidance response latencies. Thus, the flashing light ITI-signal is not likely perceived as a safety signal nor is it serving as a feedback signal. The functional role of the PL cortex appears to be to increase the drive towards responding to the threat of the warning signal. Hence, avoidance susceptibility displayed by male WKY rats may be driven, in part, both by external stimuli (ITI signal) as well as by enhanced threat recognition to the warning signal via the PL cortex. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T01:22:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-088445e0dd0c4967b99508f44f365523 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5153 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T01:22:38Z |
| publishDate | 2014-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-088445e0dd0c4967b99508f44f3655232022-12-21T19:20:35ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience1662-51532014-11-01810.3389/fnbeh.2014.00403107679ITI-signals and prelimbic cortex facilitate avoidance acquisition and reduce avoidance latencies, respectively, in male WKY ratsKevin D Beck0Kevin D Beck1Kevin D Beck2Xilu eJiao3Xilu eJiao4Xilu eJiao5Ian M. Smith6Ian M. Smith7Catherine E Myers8Catherine E Myers9Catherine E Myers10Kevin ePang11Kevin ePang12Kevin ePang13Richard J Servatius14Richard J Servatius15Richard J Servatius16VA New Jersey Health Care SystemRutgers - New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers, The State University of New JerseyRutgers - New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers, The State University of New JerseyVA New Jersey Health Care SystemRutgers - New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers, The State University of New JerseyVeterans Biomedical Research InstituteVA New Jersey Health Care SystemVeterans Biomedical Research InstituteVA New Jersey Health Care SystemRutgers - New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers, The State University of New JerseyRutgers - New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers, The State University of New JerseyVA New Jersey Health Care SystemRutgers - New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers, The State University of New JerseyRutgers - New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers, The State University of New JerseyVA New Jersey Health Care SystemRutgers - New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers, The State University of New JerseyRutgers - New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers, The State University of New JerseyAs a model of anxiety disorder vulnerability, male Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats acquire lever-press avoidance behavior more readily than outbred Sprague Dawley rats, and their acquisition is enhanced by the presence of a discrete signal presented during the inter-trial intervals (ITIs), suggesting it is perceived as a safety signal. A series of experiments were conducted to determine if this is the case. Additional experiments investigated if the avoidance facilitation relies upon processing through medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). The results suggest that the ITI-signal facilitates acquisition during the early stages of the avoidance acquisition process, when the rats are initially acquiring escape behavior and then transitioning to avoidance behavior. Post-avoidance introduction of the visual ITI-signal into other associative learning tasks failed to confirm that the visual stimulus had acquired the properties of a conditioned inhibitor. Shortening the signal from the entirety of the 3 min ITI to only the first 5 s of the 3 min ITI slowed acquisition during the first 4 sessions, suggesting the flashing light is not functioning as a feedback signal. The prelimbic (PL) cortex showed greater activation during the period of training when the transition from escape responding to avoidance responding occurs. Only combined PL+infralimbic cortex lesions modestly slowed avoidance acquisition, but PL cortex lesions slowed avoidance response latencies. Thus, the flashing light ITI-signal is not likely perceived as a safety signal nor is it serving as a feedback signal. The functional role of the PL cortex appears to be to increase the drive towards responding to the threat of the warning signal. Hence, avoidance susceptibility displayed by male WKY rats may be driven, in part, both by external stimuli (ITI signal) as well as by enhanced threat recognition to the warning signal via the PL cortex.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00403/fullinfralimbic cortexprelimbic cortexanxiety vulnerabilitylever-press avoidancesafety signalsconditioned inhibitor |
| spellingShingle | Kevin D Beck Kevin D Beck Kevin D Beck Xilu eJiao Xilu eJiao Xilu eJiao Ian M. Smith Ian M. Smith Catherine E Myers Catherine E Myers Catherine E Myers Kevin ePang Kevin ePang Kevin ePang Richard J Servatius Richard J Servatius Richard J Servatius ITI-signals and prelimbic cortex facilitate avoidance acquisition and reduce avoidance latencies, respectively, in male WKY rats Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience infralimbic cortex prelimbic cortex anxiety vulnerability lever-press avoidance safety signals conditioned inhibitor |
| title | ITI-signals and prelimbic cortex facilitate avoidance acquisition and reduce avoidance latencies, respectively, in male WKY rats |
| title_full | ITI-signals and prelimbic cortex facilitate avoidance acquisition and reduce avoidance latencies, respectively, in male WKY rats |
| title_fullStr | ITI-signals and prelimbic cortex facilitate avoidance acquisition and reduce avoidance latencies, respectively, in male WKY rats |
| title_full_unstemmed | ITI-signals and prelimbic cortex facilitate avoidance acquisition and reduce avoidance latencies, respectively, in male WKY rats |
| title_short | ITI-signals and prelimbic cortex facilitate avoidance acquisition and reduce avoidance latencies, respectively, in male WKY rats |
| title_sort | iti signals and prelimbic cortex facilitate avoidance acquisition and reduce avoidance latencies respectively in male wky rats |
| topic | infralimbic cortex prelimbic cortex anxiety vulnerability lever-press avoidance safety signals conditioned inhibitor |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00403/full |
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