A brief guide to studying fear in developing rodents: important considerations and common pitfalls.

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Date
2018-04-26
Authors
Cowan, Caitlin S. M.
Richardson, Rick
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Publisher
Wiley
Published Version
10.1002/cpns.44
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Abstract
Development is a time of rapid change that sets the pathway to adult functioning across all aspects of physical and mental health. Developmental studies can therefore offer insight into the unique needs of individuals at different stages of normal development as well as the etiology of various disease states. The aim of this overview is to provide an introduction to the practical implementation of developmental studies in rats and mice, with an emphasis on the study of learned fear. We first discuss how developmental factors may influence experimental outcomes for any study. This is followed by a discussion of methodological issues to consider when conducting studies of developing rodents, highlighting examples from the literature on learned fear. Throughout, we offer some recommendations to guide researchers on best practice in developmental studies.
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Keywords
Adolescence , Ageā€related changes , Development , Fear extinction , Infancy , Pavlovian fear conditioning , Rodent studies
Citation
Cowan, C. S. M. and Richardson, R. (2018) 'A Brief Guide to Studying Fear in Developing Rodents: Important Considerations and Common Pitfalls', Current Protocols in Neuroscience, 83(1), e44. doi: 10.1002/cpns.44
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https://hdl.handle.net/10468/7458
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APC Microbiome Ireland - Journal Articles
Copyright
Ā© 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Cowan, C. S. M. and Richardson, R. (2018) 'A Brief Guide to Studying Fear in Developing Rodents: Important Considerations and Common Pitfalls', Current Protocols in Neuroscience, 83(1), pp. e44., which has been published in final form at https://currentprotocols.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/cpns.44