Effects of chronic mild stress over visual discrimination learning on Wistar rats

• Grant number: 16/12734-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2017
• End date: April 30, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Experimental Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Andréia Schmidt
• Grantee: Vítor Pansarim
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

No human learning can be affected by many variables, including biological variables as sex, food restriction and stress. Some experiments have investigated the effects of stress over no human learning using acute stress models, in which stress situation is intense and short; chronic stress models, in the other hand, produce uninterrupted and long duration stress situations. Studies looking for the effects of stress over learning in rats found distinct results. Those which applied an acute stress or a shorter and less intense chronic stress found a positive effect over learning, and those which applied a long and more intense chronic stress found a negative effect. A chronic stress model is expected to prejudice the performance of rats on discrimination tasks. The objective of this research will be investigate the effects of chronic mild stresses over the learning of visual discrimination. In order to achieve this objective, Wistar rats (ten male) will be assigned to two groups. Experimental group will be exposed to chronic mild stress for at least three weeks. After that, they will pass by a process of simultaneous visual discrimination learning, while the control group will pass only by the visual discrimination. The preference for a solution of saccharose will be measured over the experiment. Besides, animals of the two groups will be exposed to the Morris Water Maze. The number of necessary sessions to finish the learning in the discrimination task and the performance at the Morris Water Maze will be compared between experimental and control groups. (AU)