Figure 5.

mPFC activation. The mPFC was infused with picrotoxin or saline during the stressor. One day later, animals were trained with delay conditioning. A, Picrotoxin-treated stressed males emitted more CRs than the saline-treated unstressed males but performed similarly to those that were stressed and infused with saline. Thus, activating the mPFC did not alter the stress-induced facilitation of learning or performance in the absence of stress in males. B, Stressed females infused with saline expressed fewer CRs than their unstressed counterparts. Picrotoxin-infused stressed females performed similarly to the saline-treated stressed females, emitting fewer CRs than picrotoxin-treated unstressed animals. Thus, mPFC activation in females had no effect on decremented conditioned responding following stress exposure or performance in the absence of stress.