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One-way avoidance learning and diazepam in female roman high-avoidance and low-avoidance rats.

Torres C, Escarabajal MD, Cándido A, de la Torre L, Gómez MJ, Maldonado A, Tobeña A, Fernández-Teruel A

Department of Psychology, University of Jaén, Spain. mctorres@ujaen.es

The goal of this experiment was to study the influence of the time spent in the safe compartment (30 vs. 1 s) and of an intraperitoneal injection of diazepam (1 mg/kg vs. vehicle) on one-way avoidance learning, in inbred female roman high-avoidance and roman low-avoidance rats. Rats learned to run from a danger compartment, where they received a warning signal (88 dB tone) followed by a 1 mA electric footshock, to a safe compartment, where these stimuli were not presented. The number of trials needed to reach 10 consecutive avoidance responses was the dependent variable. Roman low-avoidance rats exposed to 1 s in the safe compartment showed poorer performance than their roman high-avoidance counterparts. These differences were not observed in rats exposed to 30 s in the safe place, and were abolished by the injection of diazepam. These results suggest the importance of fear and reinforcement in one-way avoidance learning and its usefulness for studying emotional processes underlying genetic or pharmacological manipulations.

Published 11 April 2007 in Behav Pharmacol, 18(3): 251-3.
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