Cueing unavoidable physical but not emotional stress increases long-term behavioural effects in rats

Abstract

Cueing a stressor can influence the perception of and the direct reaction to a stressor. Until now, only the direct reaction of an animal to the cue or to the subsequent stressor has been examined. This experiment assesses the long-term behavioural effects of cueing two different stressors. Rats were exposed to physical stress (PS) or emotional stress (ES) in a two-compartment box for 5 consecutive days. PS rats daily received mild foot shocks during 10 min. ES rats were forced to witness the PS rats being foot shocked. A control group was placed in the same box without receiving shocks. Every foot shock was either cued or not cued with a 3-s light signal. In an additional experiment the eff..