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ABSTRACT Fear conditioning is one of the most widely used animal models for studying the neurobiological basis of fear and anxiety states. Conditioned inhibition of fear (or learned safety),
however, is a relatively unexplored behavioral paradigm addressing the aspect of regulation of fear, which is central to survival and mental health. Although fear conditioning is achieved
by pairing a previously neutral, conditioned stimulus (CS) with an aversive, unconditioned stimulus (US), learned safety training consists of a series of explicitly unpaired CS–US
presentations. Animals are trained for 3 d, one session per day, and learn to associate the CS with protection from the impending danger of the aversive events. The entire procedure can be
completed within 7 d. The protocol has been successfully used to study the molecular underpinnings of a behavioral intervention for depression. This paradigm complements currently used
animal tests in neuropsychiatric research addressing the dysregulation of emotional behaviors in genetic, pharmacological or environmental mouse models of human affective disorders. Access
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SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS DIFFERENTIAL RECRUITMENT OF BRAIN CIRCUITS DURING FEAR EXTINCTION IN NON-STRESSED COMPARED TO STRESS RESILIENT ANIMALS Article Open access 25 January
2024 REFINEMENT OF THE STRESS-ENHANCED FEAR LEARNING MODEL OF POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER: A BEHAVIORAL AND MOLECULAR ANALYSIS Article 20 October 2022 SEROTONIN 5-HT2C RECEPTOR KNOCKOUT
IN MICE ATTENUATES FEAR RESPONSES IN CONTEXTUAL OR CUED BUT NOT COMPOUND CONTEXT-CUE FEAR CONDITIONING Article Open access 11 February 2022 REFERENCES * Davis, M. & Shi, C. The extended
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These authors contributed equally to this work. AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Physiology, Center for Physiology and Pharmacology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Daniela D Pollak & Francisco J Monje * Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Neuroscience, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria Gert Lubec Authors * Daniela D Pollak
View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Francisco J Monje View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
* Gert Lubec View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS D.D.P. jointly conceived the study with F.J.M.; D.D.P. conducted behavioral
experiments; D.D.P. and F.J.M. interpreted and analyzed the data; G.L. and D.D.P. wrote the paper. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Daniela D Pollak. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING
INTERESTS The authors declare no competing financial interests. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Pollak, D., Monje, F. & Lubec, G. The
learned safety paradigm as a mouse model for neuropsychiatric research. _Nat Protoc_ 5, 954–962 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2010.64 Download citation * Published: 29 April 2010 *
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