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Kainic acid lesions disrupt fear-mediated memory processing
- Source :
- Neurobiology of learning and memory. 77(3)
- Publication Year :
- 2002
-
Abstract
- Previous research has shown that hippocampal lesions impair the expression of fear conditioning. This fear conditioning deficit may be due to memory impairment or a reduction in fear in lesioned animals. To address these possibilities, the authors examined unconditioned and conditioned fear in male Sprague-Dawley rats that had received intracerebroventricular (ICV) infusions of kainic acid (KA) 30 days prior to testing. Animals that had received bilateral ICV infusions of KA (1.0 microl of 0.8 mg/ml solution per side) exhibited cell loss that was primarily confined to the CA3 region of the dorsal hippocampus. Kainic acid lesions impaired contextual and cued fear conditioning but did not affect unconditioned fear in a light:dark test of anxiety. Moreover, animals with KA lesions did not habituate to the light:dark apparatus when tested over a 3-day period. These data suggest that decreases in fear conditioning produced by hippocampal lesions reflect a memory deficit and not a lack of fear.
- Subjects :
- Male
Kainic acid
Light
Cognitive Neuroscience
Central nervous system
Hippocampus
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Hippocampal formation
Lesion
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Behavioral Neuroscience
chemistry.chemical_compound
Conditioning, Psychological
medicine
Memory impairment
Animals
Fear conditioning
Memory Disorders
Kainic Acid
Brain
Fear
Rats
medicine.anatomical_structure
chemistry
Anxiety
medicine.symptom
Psychology
Neuroscience
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10747427
- Volume :
- 77
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Neurobiology of learning and memory
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....2c182fa65a85628ac5e11935e3b813b9