Environmental enrichment facilitates amygdala kindling but reduces kindling-induced fear in male rats.
The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of prior environmental enrichment on the acquisition of kindling and the expression of kindling-induced fear. Sixty male rats were housed either in an enriched environment or in isolation, starting immediately after weaning. As adults, they were subjected to either 50 amygdala-kindling stimulations or sham stimulations, followed by testing in an unfamiliar open field. The kindled-enriched rats acquired the kindled state more quickly than did the kindled-isolated rats, but they also showed less fear in the open field than did the kindled-isolated rats. These results suggest that environmental enrichment has differential effects on kindling acquisition and its behavioral consequences.
Young
Nicole A
NA
Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, Halifax, NS B3H 4J1, Canada.
Wintink
Amanda J
AJ
Kalynchuk
Lisa E
LE
D000679:Amygdala / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D004777:Environment; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D007696:Kindling, Neurologic / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D012934:Social Isolation