title: Early amygdala damage disrupts performance on medial prefrontal cortex-related tasks but spares spatial learning and memory in the rat.
abstract: Recent studies have demonstrated that the postnatal development of connections between the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) mature around postnatal days 13-15 (pd13-15), whereas these between the BLA and other structures such as the nucleus accumbens and the mediodorsal thalamus are completed by pd7. Accordingly, it is hypothesized that mPFC cytoarchitecture and hence its function may be specifically affected by neonatal (i.e. on pd7) but not later induced (i.e. on pd21) damage to the BLA. To test this hypothesis, rats received excitotoxic lesions to the BLA on either pd7 or pd21 and were subjected to two tests putatively sensitive to mPFC dysfunction, namely food hoarding and spontaneous alternation. In addition, rats were tested for spatial learning and memory, to determine any possible effects on hippocampal function. Consistent with the documented effects of mPFC lesions, pd7 damage to the BLA impaired spontaneous alternation and food hoarding performance, an effect that was not found in rats with BLA lesions induced on pd21. Spatial learning and memory, however, were not affected by the (neonatal) lesion procedure. Together, these results indicate that neonatal BLA damage affects species-specific sequential behavior and flexibility, which may be attributed to abnormal functioning of the mPFC.
authors.affiliation: Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, Department of Pharmacology and Anatomy, University Medical Center Utrecht, P.O. Box 80040, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands. l.diergaarde@vumc.nl
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Diergaarde
authors.forename: M A F M
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Gerrits
authors.forename: J P W
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Brouwers
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: van Ree
mesh_terms: D000679:Amygdala / Q000293:injuries* / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D003463:Cues; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012193:Reversal Learning; D013238:Stereotaxic Techniques