Based on several publications, it can be done before employing the stressors or after the period of stress that lasts for 2-3 weeks.
Dear Wong, It depends if you are more interested to see an impact on memory (then it is better to do the training before) or learning itself (then it is better to do it after chronic stress), though this distinction is not very precise (acquisition/learning of MWM involves memory as well).
Two additional notes: if you do the training before stress the danger is that conrol rats will forget as well, the memory trace needs to be strong; if you do the training after stress the main problem might be motivation – the animals might not be willing to learn or can be stressed so much they might not care about learning. Then you should think about ensuring to know they learned and, e.g., compare immediate probe trial and 3-5 days later one. In general, fear conditioning would be better in such a setup, especially with training before the stress. Good luck, Robert
Thank you Robert for your input. Agree with your points. Training them after the stress period is just adding more stress to them.
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