Recovery from Lesion-Associated Learning Deficits by Fetal Amygdala Transplants
Bilateral lesions of the amygdaloid complex result in elimination or attenuation of the conditioned freezing that is normally seen in the conditioned emotional response (CER) paradigm and the active avoidance (AA) task. We observed the effect of amygdalar tissue transplantation on the ability of les...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Hindawi Limited
2002-01-01
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| Series: | Neural Plasticity |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/NP.2002.53 |
| Summary: | Bilateral lesions of the amygdaloid complex
result in elimination or attenuation of the
conditioned freezing that is normally seen in the
conditioned emotional response (CER) paradigm
and the active avoidance (AA) task. We observed
the effect of amygdalar tissue transplantation
on the ability of lesioned (central nucleus of
amygdala, CeA) rats to learn CER and AA. In
two groups of adult Wistar rats, sham operation
or bilateral lesions of the CeA were produced
electrolytically (2mA for 8 sec). In a third group,
fetal amygdalar tissue was transplanted at the
CeA-lesioned site 2 d postoperatively. All rats
were trained on CER and AA from the 6th postoperative day. In comparison with the shamoperated
group, bilaterally CeA-lesioned rats
showed a significant (p<0.001) increase in all
CER scores, indicating an acquisition deficit.
After fetal amygdalar tissue transplantation,
the CER scores significantly decreased (p<0.05) when compared with the lesioned group. A
significant (p<0.01) decrease in the percentage
of avoidance in the AA task occurring after
CeA lesion returned to control values after
amygdalar tissue transplantation. In conclusion,
in CeA-lesioned rats a complete behavioral
deficit in learning CER and AA was restored by
transplanting fetal amygdalar tissue at the
lesioned site. |
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| ISSN: | 2090-5904 1687-5443 |