Source Paper
Reduced fear expression after lesions of the ventral hippocampus
Kirsten G. Kjelstrup, Frode A. Tuvnes, Hill-Aina Steffenach, Robert Murison, Edvard I. Moser et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences • 2002
Contextual Fear Conditioning
Objective: Assessment of the ability to condition fear responses to contextual environmental cues and evaluate the role of the ventral hippocampus in contextual fear conditioning
This is a Contextual Fear Conditioning protocol using rat as the model organism. The procedure involves 4 procedural steps, 3 equipment items. Extracted from a 2002 paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Model and subjects
rat • Not specified • unknown • Not specified • Not specified
Study window
Estimated timing pending
Core workflow
Elevated plus-maze testing • Brightly lit chamber confinement • Contextual fear conditioning assessment
Primary readouts
- Open arm avoidance in elevated plus-maze
- Neuroendocrine stress responses (corticosterone levels)
- Contextual fear conditioning ability
- Spatial navigation performance
Key equipment and reagents
Use this page as an execution guide, then fall back to the source paper whenever you need exact exclusions, dosing details, or assay-specific caveats.
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- Verify the animal model, intervention setup, and collection timepoints against the source paper.
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Protocol Steps
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Elevated plus-maze testing
Rats were tested in an elevated plus-maze to assess their ability to avoid open arms, which indicates fear-related defensive behavior
Note: Lesioned rats failed to avoid open arms compared to controls
View evidence from paper
“Rats with selective hippocampal lesions failed to avoid open arms in an elevated plus-maze”
Brightly lit chamber confinement
Rats were confined to a brightly lit chamber and neuroendocrine stress responses were measured
Note: Lesioned rats showed decreased neuroendocrine stress responses
View evidence from paper
“decreased neuroendocrine stress responses during confinement to a brightly lit chamber”
Contextual fear conditioning assessment
Rats were assessed for their ability to condition fear responses to contextual environmental cues
Note: Ventral hippocampal lesions did not impair contextual fear conditioning
View evidence from paper
“Ventral lesions failed to impair contextual fear conditioning or spatial navigation”
Spatial navigation testing
Rats were tested in a water maze to assess spatial navigation abilities
Note: Ventral hippocampal lesions did not impair spatial navigation
View evidence from paper
“Ventral lesions failed to impair contextual fear conditioning or spatial navigation”