Acute restraint stress impairs aversive memory retention but not memory formation

  1. Aline Lima Dierschnabel
  2. Diana Aline Nôga
  3. Luiz Eduardo Mateus Brandão
  4. Catherine Caldas de Mesquita
  5. Diego de Aquino Câmara
  6. Ywlliane da Silva Rodrigues Meurer
  7. Felipe Porto Fiuza
  8. Rovena Clara Galvão Januário Engelberth
  9. Regina Helena da Silva
  10. Jeferson Souza Cavalcante
  11. Ramón Hypolito Lima
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Abstract

Stress can alter neurochemical signalling, affecting memory processing, but its underlying neurobiological mechanism remains unclear. Here, we investigate the effect of acute restraint stress (ARS) on long-term retention of aversive memory in rats.

We exposed the animals to either handling or ARS protocol and tested the rats in the plus-maze discriminative avoidance task (PMDAT). Also, we performed immunohistochemistry assays to unveil the effect of stress on neuronal activity.

We found that ARS immediately after training does not impair memory formation but hinders retention. Training triggers a peak of C-fos 1 hour later and a delayed 18-hour increase of Zif268 in the dorsal CA1. The same does not occur when ARS is experienced immediately after training.

We demonstrate the crucial role of Zif268 and C-fos signalling in maintaining PMDAT LTM. ARS is more relevant for memory retention than for memory formation of discriminative aversive memory.

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  1. Version published to 10.1101/2025.07.25.666772 on bioRxiv