[Abstract Title]. - Society for Neuroscience

grants already received); M.P. Kaster, CAPES, B. Research Grant (principal investigator,
collaborator or consultant and pending grants as well as grants already received); FCT, B.
Research Grant (principal investigator, collaborator or consultant and pending grants as well as
grants already received); J.M.N. Duarte, FCT, B. Research Grant (principal investigator,
collaborator or consultant and pending grants as well as grants already received); Fundação
Oriente, B. Research Grant (principal investigator, collaborator or consultant and pending grants
as well as grants already received); P.M. Canas, FCT, B. Research Grant (principal investigator,
collaborator or consultant and pending grants as well as grants already received).
Poster
291. Animal Cognition and Behavior: Learning and Memory: Pharmacology II
Time: Sunday, November 16, 2008, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Program#/Poster#: 291.3/RR78
Topic: F.02.j. Learning and memory: Pharmacology
Support: National Institute on Drug Abuse DA017949 TG
National Cancer Institute/National Institute on Drug Transdisciplinary Tobacco
Research Center Grant P5084718
National Institute on Alcohol and Alcohol Abuse AA015515 TG
Title: The effects of nicotine administration on the extinction and renewal of a conditioned fear
response in mice
Authors: *T. J. GOULD, G. A. ELIAS;
Dept Psychol, Temple Univ., Philadelphia, PA
Abstract: Within the population of individuals diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD) there is a significantly higher rate of nicotine dependence and significantly lower quit
rate compared to the population of individuals with no history of mental illness. A recent review
suggested that the connection between PTSD and smoking might be bidirectional in that
smoking prior to trauma increases the odds that PTSD will develop and alternatively that the
development of PTSD increases an individual‟s susceptibility to nicotine dependence. PTSD is
thought to result from dysfunctions in emotional regulation. Fear conditioning and subsequent
extinction are animal models used to examine emotional learning and regulation. In this study we
examined the effects of nicotine administration on fear extinction in an attempt to understand the
relationship between PTSD and nicotine dependence. Mice underwent cued fear conditioning
and 24hrs later received the first of six, daily extinction sessions in either the conditioning