Chronic unpredictable stress induces heightened alertness and facilitates the retrieval and extinction of aversive memories in male rats

The cumulative effects of stress, increasingly unpredictable in contemporary life, are associated with alterations in different human physiological systems and behaviors, predisposing them to psychiatric and mental disorders. Stress is directly related to hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activation and subsequent glucocorticoid release, mainly corticosterone (CORT) in rodents. However, chronic stress effects in the aversive mnemonic processes, such as memory retrieval and extinction, are still poorly known.