Rat operant conditioning system LE870

for micefor animal researchpassive avoidance

Fear-motivated tests classically used to assess short-term or long-term memory on small laboratory animals Presentation The inhibition of innate or learned behaviour by association with aversive stimulation has shown to be a very useful tool for researchers working in very different fields. From the study of the interference of drug treatments on a simple learning model to the study of the physiological mechanisms beneath learning or memory, passive avoidance reflexes studies have been used. Many models have been proposed for these studies. However, among those most widely used, that suggested by Kurtz & Pearl in 1960 (J. Comp Physiol. Phycol. 53:201-6) and later modified by Bures & Buresova (J. Comp. Physiol. Phycol. 56:268-62, 1963) is proven. In this model, sometimes called ‘One-trial learning’, ‘Two-compartment test’ or ‘Memory test’ it is intended to inhibit, by aversive stimulus, the rodents tendency to abandon large, open and brightly illuminated spaces so as to hide in small dark ones. Operating principle The model has a set of variables of easy determination and control (i.e. entrance to the small compartment latency), offering, at the same time, an ample parameters spectrum whose effect can be studied (v. gr. the interval between the aversive stimulation and the retention test). Passive Avoidance studies can be carried out by means of an experimental chamber that comprised of two differently sized enclosures, a big white one and a small black one, according to the original design.