Effects of Pavlovian fear conditioning on septohippocampal metabolism in rats

The effects of classical fear conditioning in different regions of the limbic system were analysed using cytochrome oxidase (CO) histochemistry. Wistar rats were submitted to different conditions. Rats in the group Paired received tone–shock pairing, to elicit conditioned suppression of lever pressi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuroscience letters 2005-01, Vol.373 (2), p.94-98
Main Authors: Conejo, Nélida M., López, Matías, Cantora, Raúl, González-Pardo, Héctor, López, Laudino, Begega, Azucena, Vallejo, Guillermo, Arias, Jorge L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amygdala
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Conditioned fear
Conditioning, Classical - physiology
Cytochrome oxidase
Electron Transport Complex IV - metabolism
Fear - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Hippocampus - metabolism
Immunohistochemistry
Male
Rat
Rats
Rats, Wistar
Septohippocampal system
Septum of Brain - metabolism
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
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Summary:The effects of classical fear conditioning in different regions of the limbic system were analysed using cytochrome oxidase (CO) histochemistry. Wistar rats were submitted to different conditions. Rats in the group Paired received tone–shock pairing, to elicit conditioned suppression of lever pressing (i.e., tone will evoke conditioned fear responses). The group Unpaired underwent random presentations of these stimuli and developed no conditioned fear. Untrained animals were also included as a control group. A significant decrease in CO activity was found in the medial septal area and the dorsal hippocampus (CA3 subfield and dentate gyrus) in the group Paired as compared with the group Unpaired. Furthermore there was greater metabolic activity in the control group as compared with the other two groups. No differences in CO labelling of the basolateral amygdala were detected among all groups. These findings suggest that the septohippocampal system plays an important role in controlling conditioned fear behaviour.
ISSN:0304-3940
1872-7972
DOI:10.1016/j.neulet.2004.09.066