The contextual fear conditioning deficit presented by spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) is not improved by mood stabilizers.

Objectives: We have recently reported that spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) present a contextual fear conditioning (CFC) deficit. This deficit is improved by antipsychotic drugs, potentiated by proschizophrenia manipulations and not altered by acute administration of carbamazepine, lamotrigine and valproic acid. Nevertheless, the effects of lithium-a classical mood stabilizer-or repeated treatment with these drugs were not evaluated.