Aversive and compensatory classical conditioning with diazepam as conditional stimulus

The purpose of the first experiment was to investigate whether diazepam could acquire anxiogenic properties by signalling an aversive event. Rats were trained in an operant chamber in the pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) model of anxiety. Thereafter the animals were divided into groups that received classica...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scandinavian journal of psychology 1991-01, Vol.32 (1), p.70-78
Main Authors: FLATEN, MAGNE ARVE, GRÅWE, ROLF W., DAHL, CARL B., HAUG, TROND
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal
Animals
Anxiety
Arousal - drug effects
Association Learning - drug effects
Avoidance Learning - drug effects
Biological and medical sciences
classical conditioning
Conditioning
Conditioning, Classical - drug effects
diazepam
Diazepam - pharmacology
drug discrimination
Electroshock
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Learning. Memory
Male
pentylenetetrazol
Pentylenetetrazole - pharmacology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Rats
Rats, Inbred Strains
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Summary:The purpose of the first experiment was to investigate whether diazepam could acquire anxiogenic properties by signalling an aversive event. Rats were trained in an operant chamber in the pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) model of anxiety. Thereafter the animals were divided into groups that received classical diazepam conditioning (Group 1), and conditioning of diazepam + tone (Group 2). In the test phase diazepam was injected prior to placement in the operant chamber. Group 2 selected the PTZ‐appropriate lever more often than the other groups, indicating that the tone induced anxiety, and diazepam did not. Tones and shock may therefore be more easily associated than diazepam and shock. The second experiment investigated this. Rats were trained the same way as in the first experiment. Thereafter the experimental group received injections of a small dose of diazepam prior to a second injection of a large dose of diazepam. The hypothesis was that a compensatory anxiogenic conditional response to diazepam's anxiolytic effect should be elicited by the small dose. There were no differences between the groups in lever selection, indicating that a compensatory anxiogenic response was not elicited.
ISSN:0036-5564
1467-9450
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9450.1991.tb00854.x