Lack of a temporal gradient of retrograde amnesia following NMDA-induced lesions of the basolateral amygdala assessed with the fear-potentiated startle paradigm.
M. Kim and M. Davis (1993b) previously reported that electrolytic lesions of the central nucleus of the amygdala, made 6 or 30 days after training, completely blocked the expression of fear-potentiated startle in rats. The present study shows that excitotoxic lesions of the basolateral amygdala also block fear-potentiated startle and do so whether the lesions are made soon (i.e., 6 days) or long (i.e., 30 days) after training. The relevance of these findings to various theories of amygdala function is discussed.
Lee
Y
Y
Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06508, USA.
Walker
D
D
Davis
M
M
D000679:Amygdala / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D016202:N-Methylaspartate / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000502:physiology*; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology
D016202:N-Methylaspartate