Paired-housing selectively facilitates within-session extinction of avoidance behavior, and increases c-Fos expression in the medial prefrontal cortex, in anxiety vulnerable Wistar-Kyoto rats

摘要

Objective: The perseveration of avoidance behavior, even in the absence of once threatening stimuli, is a key feature of anxiety and related psychiatric conditions. This phenomenon can be observed in the Wistar-Kyoto (WRY) rat which, in comparison to outbred controls, demonstrates impaired extinction of avoidance behavior. Also characteristic of the WKY rat is abnormalities of the neurocircuitry and neuroplasticity of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). One means of reducing physiological responses to anxiety, and conditioned fear, in social species is the presence of a conspecific animal. The current study investigates whether or not pair-housed WKY rats would show facilitated extinction of avoidance in comparison to individual-housed WRY rats, and whether or not pair-housing influences mPFC activation during lever-press avoidance.