Topic: IL-6 knockout mice

Proinflammatory cytokines, for example interleukin (IL-)6, are discussed as biomarkers for neuropsychiatric disorders such as anxiety disorders. However, it is not clear whether IL-6 may cause a dysregulation of emotional behaviors observed in posttraumatic stress (PTSD) and other anxiety disorders. Fear conditioning is a widely used paradigm to model memory-related features of PTSD in mice. We therefore tested auditory-cued fear memory features in male and female IL-6 knockout mice. We observed a reduced generalization of fear memory towards a non-conditioned tone, especially in female IL-6 k