Fear generalization immediately after contextual fear memory consolidation in mice

Fear generalization is a symptom of anxiety-related disorders, including acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Using a contextual fear conditioning paradigm, we found that mice exposed to a similar neutral context but not a different neutral context soon after training showed fear general-ization immediately after contextual fear memory consolidation (i.e., 6 h after training). This fear generalization was reflected by a change not only in the total amount but also the pattern of freezing between conditioned and generalized contexts. These results provide insight into the factors that in-fluence fear generalization and can facilitate future studies investigating the underlying pathophysio-logical mechanisms of anxiety-related disorders. (c) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.