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The Journal of Neuroscience, 1999, 0:RC18:1-5

RAPID COMMUNICATION
Exposing Rats to a Predator Blocks Primed Burst Potentiation in the Hippocampus In Vitro

Michael H. Mesches¹, Monika Fleshner², Karen L. Heman¹, Gregory M. Rose¹, and David M. Diamond³

¹ Department of Pharmacology, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado 80262, ² Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, and ³ Departments of Psychology and Pharmacology and Neuroscience Program, University of South Florida, and Medical Research Service, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Tampa, Florida 33620

This study evaluated the effects of acute psychological stress (cat exposure) in adult male rats on electrophysiological plasticity subsequently assessed in the hippocampus in vitro. Two physiological models of memory were studied in CA1 in each recording session: (1) primed burst potentiation (PBP), a low-threshold form of plasticity produced by a total of five physiologically patterned pulses; and (2) long-term potentiation (LTP), a suprathreshold form of plasticity produced by a train of 100 pulses. Three groups of rats were studied: (1) undisturbed rats in their home cage (home cage); (2) rats placed in a chamber for 75 min (chamber); and (3) rats placed in a chamber for 75 min in close proximity to a cat (chamber/stress). At the end of the chamber exposure period, blood samples were obtained, and the hippocampus was prepared for in vitro recordings. Only the chamber/stress group had elevated (stress) levels of corticosterone. The major finding was that PBP, but not LTP, was blocked in the chamber/stress group. Thus, the psychological stress experienced by the rats in response to cat exposure resulted in an inhibition of plasticity, which was localized to the intrinsic circuitry of the hippocampus. This work provides novel observations on the effects of an ethologically relevant stressor on PBP in vitro and of the relative insensitivity of LTP to being modulated by psychological stress. We discuss the relevance of these electrophysiological findings to our behavioral work showing that predator stress impairs spatial memory.

Key words: psychological stress; neuronal plasticity; memory; LTP; hippocampus; fear

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Copyright © 1999 Society for Neuroscience  0270-6474/99/$05.00/0

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