FS stress induces long-lasting memory facilitation: involvement of cholinergic pathways

We tested in vivo the hypothesis that foot-shock (FS) stress-induced prolongation of latencies in the one-trial step-through passive avoidance learning task in mice occurred through a long-term facilitation process. Whereas behavioral responses in control mice lasted for 24 h, decreasing progressively in the subsequent days, FS-stress exposure for 15 min before training (pretraining), immediately after training (posttraining), or 15 min before the test (pretest) resulted in a profound and sustained enhancement of test latencies that lasted for at least 96 h. These facilitating effects disappeared when FS exposure was delivered with a 2- or 3-h difference with respect to the training trial. Scopolamine (Scop) (1 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) 30 min before the training session caused impairment of test latencies in control and pretest stressed animals, but failed to affect both pre- and posttraining FS stress-induced enhancement. Our working hypothesis is that FS stress may increase the levels of acetylcholine in the presynaptic terminal or the firing rate of cholinergic input. Animals pretreated with FS stress daily for 1 or 4 days followed by the acute schedule described above showed no enhancements of test latencies. Pretraining Scop impaired test latencies in pre- and posttraining and pretest stressed animals, suggesting that unpredictability is a critical factor in activating behavioral long-term facilitation.