Increased voluntary ethanol consumption and c-Fos expression in selected brain areas induced by fear memory retrieval in ethanol withdrawn rats

BERTOTTO, MARÍA EUGENIA

EUROPEAN NEUROPSYCHOFARMACOLOGY

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2010 vol. 20 p. 568 - 568

0924-977X

ithdrawal from chronic ethanol administration facilitated the formation of contextual fear memory. The effect of fear memory retrieval on subsequent ethanol consumption, by employing a two-bottle free-choice procedure with either water or ethanol (2-8% v/v), was investigated in ethanol withdrawn rats. The effect of fear memory extinction with or without d-cycloserine (DCS, 5. mg/kg. i.p.) on subsequent ethanol consumption was also evaluated. In addition, we examined c-Fos expression in different brain areas following the fear memory recall. The retrieval of such fear memory induced a significant increase in ethanol consumption in ethanol withdrawn but not in control animals. Regardless of DCS treatment, this increase was attenuated by extinction training. In ethanol withdrawn rats, context-dependent memory retrieval was accompanied by an increased c-Fos expression in the basolateral amygdala, ventrolateral periaqueductal gray, dentate gyrus and dorsomedial periaqueductal gray. Among t