The effects of acute stress on Pavlovian-instrumental transfer in rats.

Pavlovian stimuli invigorate ongoing instrumental action, a phenomenon termed the Pavlovian-instrumental transfer (PIT) effect. Acute stressors can markedly enhance the release of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), and CRF injection into the nucleus accumbens increases the PIT effect. However, it is unknown whether acute stressors by themselves would amplify the PIT effect. Here, we examined the effects of acute stressors on PIT. Rats first received Pavlovian and instrumental training, and then the impact of the Pavlovian stimuli on instrumental responding was analyzed in the subsequent PIT test. Acute stressors were applied prior to the PIT test. Because the effects of acute stressors critically depend on stressor type and time of day, we used two acute stressors that involved one or several distinct stressors (denoted here as "single" vs. "multiple" stressors) applied either in the light or the dark period of the light:dark cycle. The results revealed that single and multiple stressors applied in the light period did not alter the PIT effect--that is, the ability of an appetitive Pavlovian stimulus to enhance leverpressing--or the basal leverpress rate. When applied in the dark period, single and multiple stressors also did not alter the PIT effect, but they did markedly reduce the basal leverpress rate. Diazepam pretreatment did not counteract the declines in basal instrumental responding in the PIT test that were induced by either a single or multiple stressors. Our findings suggest that acute stressors were unable to amplify the incentive salience of reward-predictive Pavlovian stimuli to activate instrumental responding, but, depending on the time of day of stressor exposure, they did reduce basal instrumental responding.

Post-training glucocorticoid receptor activation during Pavlovian conditioning reduces Pavlovian-instrumental transfer in rats.

Considerable evidence suggests that glucocorticoid receptor activation can enhance memory consolidation in Pavlovian learning tasks. For instance, post-training injections of the synthetic glucocorticoid receptor agonist dexamethasone increased conditioned responding to reward-predictive Pavlovian stimuli. Here we explored whether post-training dexamethasone injections can enhance appetitive Pavlovian learning and amplify the ability of Pavlovian stimuli to invigorate instrumental behaviour, a phenomenon termed Pavlovian-instrumental transfer (PIT). Animals were given 8 training days with two sessions per day, an instrumental training session in the morning and a Pavlovian training session in the afternoon. Dexamethasone or vehicle injections were administered daily immediately after Pavlovian training sessions. In a subsequent transfer test, we measured the general PIT effect, i.e. the enhancement of lever pressing for expected reward during presentation of an appetitive Pavlovian stimulus predictive for the same reward. Repeated high-dose (1.2 mg/kg, i.p.) dexamethasone injections elicited pronounced body weight loss, markedly reduced instrumental performance and left Pavlovian learning unaltered, whereas repeated low-dose (3 µg/kg, i.p.) dexamethasone injections inhibited body weight gain, slightly reduced instrumental performance and left Pavlovian learning unaltered during training. Importantly, in rats subjected to high- and low-dose dexamethasone injections, the overall response rates and the PIT effect were reduced in the transfer test. Thus, dexamethasone given after Pavlovian training was not able to amplify the invigorating effects of Pavlovian stimuli on instrumental action. Considerable evidence suggests that body weight changes after repeated low- and high-dose dexamethasone treatment as observed here are associated with muscle atrophy that could impair response capabilities. However, our data suggest that impaired response capabilities are not a major factor accounting for reduced PIT in dexamethasone-treated animals.