Contextual Fear Conditioning
Objective: Assessment of contextual memory formation and retention in mice using fear conditioning paradigm to evaluate histone deacetylase inhibitor effects on cognitive deficits
This is a Contextual Fear Conditioning protocol using mouse as the model organism. The procedure involves 3 procedural steps, 3 materials. Extracted from a 2009 paper published in Neuropsychopharmacology.
Model and subjects
mouse • APPswe/PS1dE9 transgenic mice and normal control mice • Not specified • 6 months of age at testing • Not specified • Not specified
Study window
~3 week study window
Core workflow
Chronic histone deacetylase inhibitor treatment • Contextual fear conditioning assessment • Memory retention assessment
Primary readouts
- Contextual memory formation in normal mice
- Contextual memory formation in transgenic APPswe/PS1dE9 mice
- Memory retention over 2-week period
- HDAC isoform selectivity profile (inhibition of HDAC1, 2, 3, 8 and effects on HDAC4, 5, 7, 9, and HDAC6)
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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Chronic histone deacetylase inhibitor treatment
Mice received chronic injections of sodium valproate, sodium butyrate, or vorinostat over a 2-3 week period
Note: Treatment was administered chronically to transgenic APPswe/PS1dE9 mice and normal control mice
View evidence from paper
“Chronic HDACi injections (2–3 weeks) did not alter contextual memory formation in normal mice, but had profound effects in transgenic animals”
Contextual fear conditioning assessment
Behavioral testing of contextual memory formation in treated and control mice
Note: Testing was performed on APPswe/PS1dE9 transgenic mice and normal control mice to assess memory formation
View evidence from paper
“APPswe/PS1dE9 mice showed pronounced contextual memory impairments beginning at 6 months of age”
Memory retention assessment
Further behavioral testing of HDACi-treated transgenic mice to evaluate stability of newly consolidated memories
Note: Newly consolidated memories were assessed for stable maintenance over time
View evidence from paper
“Further behavioral testing of the HDACi-treated transgenic mice showed that the newly consolidated memories were stably maintained over a 2-week period”