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Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Stress-Enhanced Fear Learning, a Robust Rodent Model of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Published on: October 13, 2018
Substances in subthreshold concentrations under stress conditions can act as conditioned stimuli and trigger defense
T A Zapara1, A L Proskura, A S Ratushnyak
1Engineering and Design Institute of Computer Science, Siberian Division of Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia. zap@kti.nsc.ru
Abstract:
The capacity of living systems to perceive low-intensity stimuli sometimes inducing protective reactions is still little studied. Incubation of neurons under conditions increasing the content of cAMP and Ca(2+) increases the amplitude of their responses to lidocaine (10(-3) M). After cell preconditioning with low concentrations of lidocaine (10(-15) M) under these conditions, the protective effects of "ineffective" concentrations were detected, because the response amplitude did not decrease. It was hypothesized that the basic amplitude responses retrieved by lidocaine in a concentration of 10(-3) M are memory traces about the effects of this compound in subthreshold concentrations.
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