Establishment of delay-trace conditioning procedure of classical eyeblink conditioning in Kunming mice and analysis of behavioral characteristic parameters

Objective To investigate the characteristic parameters and variation of acoustic startle reflex (ASR) and conditioning response(CR)during the acquisition of delay-trace eyeblink conditioning. Methods 15 healthy Kunming mice were randomly divided into 3 groups: single-task DEBC group (n=5); single-task TEBC group (n=5); dual delay/trace group (n=5). Three groups received paired training of tone conditioned stimulus(CS)in different audio frequency ( TEBC groups: 2KHz; DEBC group: 1KHz) and a 100 ms comeal oxygen-puff unconditioned stimulus(US). Then observed the characteristic parameters of ASR and CR. Results After pairing training for 10 days, ASR rate(ASR%) of single-task groups (10th day (38.00±8.64)% and (38.55±12.41)% respectively, time effect: F=4.574, P=0.008; group effect: F=2.021, P=0.193) and dual delay-trace group (10th day (47.95±14.23)% and (62.01±9.03)% respectively, time effect: F=5, 547 P=0.013; group effect: F=0.738, P=0.415) changed significantly with the following training but between single-task groups or dual delay-trace group. CR rate(CR%) of single-task groups (10th day were (45.4±5.39)% and (65.6±6.77)% respectively, time effect: F=9.558, P=0.000; group effect: F=5.117, P=0.054) and dual delay/trace group (10th day (57.66±4.34)% and (77.35±7.36)% respectively, time effect: F=7.750, P=0.002; group effect: F=1.449, P=0.263) showed obvious change with the following training but between single-task groups or dual delay-trace group.Peak amplitude of single-task DEBC group(time effect F=2.679, P=0.017)and dual delay-trace group (F=3.452, P=0.034)had increased significantly with the following training.Peak latency showed no obvious change. Conclusion Dual delay-trace conditioning procedure of classical eyeblink conditioning and single-task can be successfully established in Kunming mice .Although there are some variations, those can be controled and be weaken effect of them by taking targeted measures. Key words: Dual delay-trace conditioning procedure; Eyeblink conditioning; Acoustic startle reflex; Mice