Cognition, Behavior, and Memory
Author: Carlos Andrés Mateos | email: mateos.andres@gmail.com
Carlos Andrés Mateos 1°, Marcelo Giachero 1°, Gaston Diego Calfa 2°, Noelia Victoria Weisstaub 1°, Pedro Alejandro Bekinschtein 1°
1° Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva y Traslacional (INCyT), CONICET – Universidad Favaloro – INECO
2° Instituto de Farmacología Experimental de Córdoba (IFEC), CONICET Universidad Nacional de Cordoba
The retrieval of a stored fear memory can make it transiently vulnerable to interference by pharmacological agents. Previous experiments demonstrated that a single fluoxetine (FLX) 10 mg/kg dose can disrupt contextual fear memory reconsolidation in mice. Here we evaluated the effect of another antidepressant approved for human use, escitalopram (eCIT), on contextual fear memory reconsolidation in male mice. After 5 minute exposure to the training context, eCIT (1, 5 or 10 mg/kg) or vehicle (VEH) (n=3-7 mice per group) were I.P. administrated. Two days later, freezing response was scored when mice were re-exposed to the training environment (Test). A two-way repeated measures ANOVA analysis revealed that there was a non-significant interaction between groups. However, an apparent trend to lower freezing values was observed at Test for the 5mg/kg treated mice compared to the rest of the experimental groups. Thus, these preliminary findings indicate that eCIT 1 or 10 mg/kg did not disrupt the reconsolidation of a contextual fear memory, eCIT 5 mg/dl showed a promising tendency that could become statistically significant if we address statistical power in groups.