Contextual control over the expression of fear in rats conditioned under a benzodiazepine

Rationale: Benzodiazepines disrupt fear conditioning, but this disruption is context-specific: if rats have been conditioned under a benzodiazepine, their fear is recovered if they are tested in a different context. The present experiments investigated how the conditioning context controls fear in rats conditioned under a benzodiazepine. Objectives: The experiments had three aims: (I) to replicate the finding that fear is recovered when rats are tested in a different context, (2) to test whether the conditioning context reduces fear generally or only for the specific stimulus conditioned in that context and (3) to test whether latent inhibition of the conditioning context reduces its control over fear. Methods: Rats were injected with the benzodiazepine midazolam (1.25 mg/kg) or saline and exposed to a conditioned stimulus (CS) and shock in a distinctive chamber. Latent inhibition of the chamber was induced by extensively preexposing the rats to the chamber. The day after conditioning, fear was assessed by presenting the CS while rats were in either the conditioning chamber or a different chamber. Results: The midazolam-induced reduction of fear was reversed (i.e. fear was partially recovered) if rats were tested in the different context, and was completely prevented if the conditioning context had been latently inhibited. These two effects were not additive since, when the conditioning context had been latently inhibited, rats showed less fear in the different context than in the conditioning context. Conclusions: We argue that midazolam does not disrupt conditioning, but imbues the conditioning context with control over retrieval of the CS-shock association. In this regard, the effects of midazolam closely parallel those of extinction.