title: Parasagittal thalamic knife-cuts and cardiac changes.
abstract: Rabbits received knife-cuts either medial or lateral to the mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamus (MD), and had stimulating electrodes implanted in MD. These animals were compared to animals with sham knife-cuts for (1) the cardiac component of the orienting reflex (OR) to novel tone stimuli; (2) differential pavlovian heart rate (HR) conditioning, utilizing tones of different frequencies as CSs and paraorbital shock as the US; and (3) heart rate, blood pressure, electromyographic activity, and respiration changes elicited by electrical stimulation in MD. Medial knife-cuts led to faster habituation of the OR, and to somewhat attenuated HR conditioning, but had no effect on stimulation-elicited changes. Lateral knife-cuts, on the other hand, enhanced the stimulation-elicited HR response, but had little effect on the HR OR. The HR CR was unaffected by lateral cuts during an initial conditioning session, but was attenuated in both knife-cut groups during a second session, compared to sham control animals.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Lab, Dorn Veterans' Hospital, Columbia, SC 29201.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Buchanan
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Powell
mesh_terms: D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology; D004525:Efferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D006321:Heart / Q000294:innervation*; D006339:Heart Rate; D008297:Male; D011817:Rabbits; D013787:Thalamic Nuclei / Q000502:physiology*