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Título

Research of the relationship between Mozart's Sonata K. 448 and the extinction of the memory of fear to sound

Resumo

INTRODUCTION: Memory is the process of storing and evoking information learned from previous experiences. The memory process is divided into phases. Extinction is the final phase, in which previously established information is suppressed, starting with a new learning process. Music, (especially Mozart's Sonata K. 448) has several effects on the brain, due to its neuronal plasticity. Although there are studies showing positive effects of Mozart´s sonatas on short-term memory, few investigate its effect on memory extinction.
AIMS: To analyze the exposure to Mozart's Sonata K. 448 in the extinction of fear memory to sound in mice.
METHODS: Twenty C57BL/6J mice were used, divided into: G1: Mozart (n=5), G2: Ambience (n=8) and G3: Control (n=7). The G1 group was the only one exposed to music from the intrauterine life onwards, from 9:00 pm to 7:00 am, throughout the project. The other groups remained exposed only to ambient sound until the end of the experiment. On the 50th to 54th days, the animals were submitted to the Habituation of the Arena, which aims to control the interference of behaviors related to the novelty of the experimental environment during training. On the 55th day, the Aversive Training was performed only with the G1 and G2 groups. On the 56th day, the Extinction Test started for 13 consecutive days with the three groups. On the 81st day, all groups were submitted to the Recall Test. The tests were videotaped for analysis. The Extinction Test and the Recording Test were analyzed by the repeated measures and one-way ANOVA tests, respectively. Values of p≤0.05 were considered significant.
RESULTS: From the statistical analysis, it was shown that the fear extinction process was different between the groups over time. Regarding the Extinction Test, the Mozart group showed a significantly higher percentage of freezing than the others, especially on the first day (p≤0.05). In addition, freezing reduction was faster for this same group. Finally, in the Recall Test, the freezing behavior in the Mozart group was significantly higher than in the other groups (p≤0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that mice exposed to music - Mozart's Sonata K. 448 - had a positive effect on fear memory, since music accelerated the extinction of fear memory to sound.

Palavras Chave

Animal model; extinction; fear; memory; music