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Rodent Models of Conditioned Fear: Behavioral Measures of Fear and Memory

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Book cover TRP Channels in Drug Discovery

Part of the book series: Methods in Pharmacology and Toxicology ((MIPT))

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Abstract

Pavlovian fear conditioning is a robust technique for examining behavioral and cellular components of fear learning and memory. In fear conditioning, the subject learns to associate a previously neutral stimulus with an inherently noxious co-stimulus. The learned association is reflected in the subjects’ behavior upon subsequent re-exposure to the previously neutral stimulus or the training environment. Using fear conditioning, investigators can obtain a large amount of data that describe multiple aspects of learning and memory. In a single test, researchers can evaluate functional integrity in fear circuitry, which is both well characterized and highly conserved across species. Additionally, the availability of sensitive and reliable automated scoring software makes fear conditioning amenable to high-throughput experimentation in the rodent model; thus, this model of learning and memory is particularly useful for pharmacological and toxicological screening. Due to the conserved nature of fear circuitry across species, data from Pavlovian fear conditioning are highly translatable to human models. We describe equipment and techniques needed to perform and analyze conditioned fear data. We provide two examples of fear conditioning experiments, one in rats and one in mice, and the types of data that can be collected in a single experiment.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychiatry and Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University (USU), Bethesda, MD, USA

    Jennifer L. McGuire, Jennifer L. Coyner & Luke R. Johnson

  2. Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine (CNRM), Bethesda, MD, USA

    Jennifer L. Coyner & Luke R. Johnson

  3. Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (CSTS), Bethesda, MD, USA

    Luke R. Johnson

Authors
  1. Jennifer L. McGuire
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  2. Jennifer L. Coyner
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  3. Luke R. Johnson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luke R. Johnson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Transfusion Services, Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch, New Jersey, USA

    Arpad Szallasi

  2. Department of Physiology, University of Debrecen Medical and Health Science Center, Debrecen, Hungary

    Tamás Bíró

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© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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McGuire, J.L., Coyner, J.L., Johnson, L.R. (2012). Rodent Models of Conditioned Fear: Behavioral Measures of Fear and Memory. In: Szallasi, A., Bíró, T. (eds) TRP Channels in Drug Discovery. Methods in Pharmacology and Toxicology. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-095-3_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-095-3_11

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-62703-094-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-62703-095-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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