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Exploring stress hormone effects on memory specificity and strength in mice using the dual-event inhibitory avoidance
Sevgi Bahtiyar1,2, Kubra Gulmez Karaca1,2, Marloes J A G Henckens1,2
1Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud university medical center, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Learning & Memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.)
|January 17, 2025
Summary
Stress hormones like noradrenergic and glucocorticoid hormones impact memory. While the dual-event inhibitory avoidance task assesses memory in mice, intraperitoneal injections introduce variability, limiting its use for studying stress hormone effects on memory specificity.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Neuroscience
- Psychopharmacology
Background:
- Stressful experiences release hormones that modulate memory strength and quality.
- The dual-event inhibitory avoidance task in rats assesses memory strength and specificity.
- Mice are crucial for genetic and neural circuit research, necessitating task adaptation.
Purpose of the Study:
- Adapt the dual-event inhibitory avoidance task for mice.
- Investigate the effects of yohimbine and corticosterone on memory in mice.
- Evaluate the task's suitability for assessing stress hormone impacts on memory specificity.
Main Methods:
- Established the dual-event inhibitory avoidance task in mice.
- Administered yohimbine and corticosterone systemically post-training.
- Compared performance of injected and non-injected control mice.
Main Results:
- Non-injected mice showed efficient task acquisition and context-specific avoidance.
- Post-training intraperitoneal injections led to testing order effects and increased variability.
- Variability precluded a thorough investigation of stress hormone effects on memory specificity.
Conclusions:
- The dual-event inhibitory avoidance task can assess memory specificity in mice.
- Intraperitoneal injections significantly impact performance and introduce confounding variables.
- The task, with current injection methods, is less suitable for studying stress hormone effects on memory specificity in mice.
