Active Avoidance Learning in Rats with Different Audiogenic Epilepsy Proneness

Learning difficulties are a fairly common comorbid complicationin patients diagnosed with epilepsy. The relationship between thepredisposition to epilepsy and the ability to learn is an importantproblem. The aim of the study was to analyze how the learning capacitydiffers in rats with different predispositions to reflex audiogenicepilepsy (AE). The success of active avoidance (AAC) conditioningin the shuttle box in rats of 3 strains was evaluated. These wererats predisposed to audiogenic epilepsy—the Krushinsky–Molodkinastrain (KM), strain “4” (selected from a population of F2 hybridsof the KM strain and AE non-prone Wistars) and rats of “0” strain,selected for the absence of AE from the same population (i.e. thesestrains differ radically in AE-proneness, but have a similar geneticbackground). The training was conducted continuously for 5 days(20 presentations per day). Experiments have shown significantlymore successful acquisition of this skill in rats of the “0” strain:in total, 75% of animals reached the learning criteria for 5 daysof AAC training (70% AAC per day). The “4” strain rats indices wereintermediate—41.7%, and only 1 from the 12 rats of the KM strain(8.3%) acquired the task according to this protocol. Thus, it waspossible to identify more successful learning in rats, selectedfor the absence of AE seizures (strain “0”) compared to rats ofthe KM and “4” strains (expressing tonic seizures of maximum intensityin response to sound exposure). The weakest acquisition was revealedin the KM strain, in which the selection process duration for AEproneness was significantly longer than in the rats of the “4” strain.