Amygdala kindling increased fear-response, but did not impair spatial memory in rats.
The behavioral effects of amygdala kindling, a model of experimental epilepsy in rats, are reported. The animals were stimulated twice a day until stage 5 (generalized clonic) seizures were obtained three times. Two weeks later the performance of the amygdala-kindled and sham-operated rats was tested in the open-field test, on the elevated plus maze, elevated bridges, and in the Morris water maze. The results show that amygdala kindling decreased exploratory and other motor activity in the open-field test, had anxiogenic effects on the elevated plus-maze, decreased boldness on the elevated bridges, but had a negligible affect in the spatial memory task. These results suggest that amygdala kindling affects the normal fear reaction of rats, a response that is known to be mediated through the amygdaloid pathways.
Nieminen
S A
SA
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Kuopio, Finland.
Sirviö
J
J
Teittinen
K
K
Pitkänen
A
A
Airaksinen
M M
MM
Riekkinen
P
P
D000679:Amygdala / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D004924:Escape Reaction / Q000502:physiology; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D007696:Kindling, Neurologic / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology