title: Basolateral amygdala and morphine-induced taste avoidance in the rat.
abstract: The present experiment examined the influence of excitotoxic lesions of the basolateral amygdala (BLA) on morphine-induced saccharin avoidance. Neurologically intact subjects rapidly learned to avoid drinking the taste conditioned stimulus (CS), an effect that was sustained throughout the experiment. Although the BLA-lesioned (BLAX) rats showed CS avoidance over the first few trials, the effect was not sustained. That is, by the end of the experiment, the BLAX rats were drinking the same amount of saccharin after seven saccharin-morphine trials as they did on the first trial (i.e., prior to the morphine injections). Potential interpretations of the results are discussed including a disruption of the mechanism that governs drug-induced taste avoidance in normal subjects and the more rapid development of tolerance in BLAX rats.
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois at Chicago, Biologic Resources Laboratory, 1840 West Taylor St, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
authors.forename: Jamie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lovaglio
authors.forename: Jian-You
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roman
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reilly
mesh_terms: D000679:Amygdala / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008845:Microinjections; D009020:Morphine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016202:N-Methylaspartate / Q000008:administration & dosage; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
chemical_list: D016202:N-Methylaspartate; D009020:Morphine