Women are 60%more likely to suffer froman anxiety disorder than men. One hypothesis for this difference may
be that females exhibit increased rates of fear generalization. Females generalize fear to a neutral context faster
than males, a process driven, in part, by estrogens. In the current study, ovariectomized adult female Long–Evans
rats were given acute injections of estradiol benzoate (15 μg/0.1 mL sesame oil) or sesame oil during a passive
avoidance procedure to determine if estrogens increase fear generalization through an effect on fear memory
acquisition/consolidation or through fear memory retrieval. Animals injected 1 h prior to training generalized
to the neutral context 24 h later but not 7 days after training. Generalization was also seen when injections occurred
24 h before testing, but not when tested at immediate (1 h) or intermediate (6 h) time points. In Experiment
3, animals were injected with estrogen receptor (ER) agonists, PPT or DPN, to determine which ER
subtype(s) increased fear generalization. Only the ERβ agonist, DPN, increased fear generalization when testing
occurred 24 h after injection. Our results indicate that estradiol increases fear generalization through an effect on
fear memory retrieval mechanisms by activation of ERβ.
Women are 60%more likely to suffer froman anxiety disorder than men. One hypothesis for this difference may
be that females exhibit increased rates of fear generalization. Females generalize fear to a neutral context faster
than males, a process driven, in part, by estrogens. In the current study, ovariectomized adult female Long–Evans
rats were given acute injections of estradiol benzoate (15 μg/0.1 mL sesame oil) or sesame oil during a passive
avoidance procedure to determine if estrogens increase fear generalization through an effect on fear memory
acquisition/consolidation or through fear memory retrieval. Animals injected 1 h prior to training generalized
to the neutral context 24 h later but not 7 days after training. Generalization was also seen when injections occurred
24 h before testing, but not when tested at immediate (1 h) or intermediate (6 h) time points. In Experiment
3, animals were injected with estrogen receptor (ER) agonists, PPT or DPN, to determine which ER
subtype(s) increased fear generalization. Only the ERβ agonist, DPN, increased fear generalization when testing
occurred 24 h after injection. Our results indicate that estradiol increases fear generalization through an effect on
fear memory retrieval mechanisms by activation of ERβ.
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