A deficit in one-trial context fear conditioning is not due to opioid analgesia

Rats given a foot shock immediately after placement in a box subsequently freeze (immobility) much less in that box than rats given the same shock 2 min after placement. A possible explanation of this result is that these two procedures might induce different levels of opioid analgesia at the time of shock. Opioids might be present immediately after handling, transporting, and exposure to a new situation, but absent 2 min later. Two experiments examined this possibility by giving the opioid antagonist naloxone before conditioning (Experiment 1) or before conditioning and testing (Experiment 2). There was no effect of naloxone relative to saline controls. The results do not support the analgesia hypothesis. Experiment 2 precludes a stage-dependent learning account of the results.