An alternative inhibitory avoidance task for studying hippocampus-dependent spatial aversive memory in mice.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Adaptive route choice is vital for survival, requiring navigation around dangers.
• Existing mouse models for studying avoidance behavior during navigation are limited.
• Neural mechanisms of experience-dependent route choice modification are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a novel behavioral task for assessing avoidance-based route choice modification in mice.
• To investigate how aversive experiences alter previously learned path preferences.
• To determine the role of hippocampal activity in retrieving spatial aversive memories.

Main Methods:

• Developed an air puff-based alternative inhibitory avoidance (AIA) task.
• Trained mice to prefer a short path for water reward, then introduced air puffs to deter path use.
• Assessed avoidance behavior at 6-h and 24-h intervals.
• Used chemogenetics to suppress hippocampal activity before memory retrieval tests.

Main Results:

• Mice receiving only 3 air puffs showed weak avoidance.
• Consistent air puff exposure led to strong avoidance behavior at 6-h and 24-h tests.
• Suppression of hippocampal activity before testing impaired aversive memory retrieval.

Conclusions:

• The AIA task is a valuable paradigm for studying experience-dependent route choice modification due to aversive events.
• Retrieval of spatial aversive memories in this task relies on hippocampal function.
• This research sheds light on the neural basis of adaptive navigation strategies informed by negative experiences.