Peculiarities of Fear Memory Extinction in Male and Female Disc1-Q31L Mice

Depressive disorders are common psychopathologies highly comorbid with other mental diseases, especially post-traumatic stress disorder, with overt gender differences in susceptibility. The Disc1 -Q31L mutant mice are characterized by depression-like behavior and disrupted molecular pathways involve...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of evolutionary biochemistry and physiology Vol. 59; no. 6; pp. 2338 - 2345
Main Authors Chizhova, N. D., Smirnova, K. V., Dubrovina, N. I., Kalueff, A. V., Amstislavskaya, T. G.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01.11.2023
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Animal Physiology
Aversion
Avoidance behavior
Biochemistry
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Disc1 protein
Evolutionary Biology
Experimental Papers
Extinction behavior
Fear
Females
Gender differences
Learning
Life Sciences
Males
Mental disorders
Post traumatic stress disorder
Sex differences
passive avoidance
extinction
C57BL/6 mice
depression
Q31L mice
sex differences
fear
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Summary:Depressive disorders are common psychopathologies highly comorbid with other mental diseases, especially post-traumatic stress disorder, with overt gender differences in susceptibility. The Disc1 -Q31L mutant mice are characterized by depression-like behavior and disrupted molecular pathways involved in fear memory. Here, we assess the sex- and strain differences in learning and extinction of a conditioned passive avoidance response (CPAR) in male and female Disc1 -Q31L mice vs. control C57BL/6 mice. Overall, male and female mice of both strains learned equally well but differed in fear memory extinction, i.e. the ability to form a new safety memory trace in the dark compartment of the test apparatus, previously associated with aversion. C57BL/6 female mice revealed poorer CPAR extinction than males, while both sexes showed strain differences in the extinction dynamics. While Disc1 -Q31L male mice reached total extinction later than C57BL/6 males, Disc1 -Q31L females exhibited no extinction throughout all 24 testing days. Collectively, this not only supports the role of Disc1 in fear memory extinction but also shows sex-dependent impact of its Q31L mutation in this process.
ISSN:0022-0930
1608-3202
DOI:10.1134/S0022093023060340