Hyperexcitability: Exaggerated Fear-Potentiated Startle Produced by Partial Amygdala Kindling

The present study asked whether partial amygdala kindling would affect the expression of conditioned fear-potentiated startle. Rats were conditioned to be fearful of a light. They were then stimulated bilaterally in the amygdala or hippocampus on 2 consecutive days (partial kindling). Rats were test...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioral neuroscience 1996-02, Vol.110 (1), p.43-50
Main Authors: Rosen, Jeffrey B, Hamerman, Eric, Sitcoske, Martina, Glowa, John R, Schulkin, Jay
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amygdala
Amygdala - physiology
Anatomical correlates of behavior
Animal
Animal behavior
Animals
Arousal - physiology
Association Learning - physiology
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain
Brain Mapping
Cerebral Cortex - physiology
Conditioned Stimulus
Conditioning, Classical - physiology
Dominance, Cerebral - physiology
Fear
Fear & phobias
Fear - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gene Expression - physiology
Hippocampus - physiology
Kindling
Kindling, Neurologic - physiology
Limbic System - physiology
Male
Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos - genetics
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Reflex, Startle - physiology
RNA, Messenger - genetics
Rodents
Startle Reflex
Synaptic Transmission - physiology
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Summary:The present study asked whether partial amygdala kindling would affect the expression of conditioned fear-potentiated startle. Rats were conditioned to be fearful of a light. They were then stimulated bilaterally in the amygdala or hippocampus on 2 consecutive days (partial kindling). Rats were tested 24 hr later for fear-potentiated startle. Amygdala-kindled rats had exaggerated fear-potentiated startle compared to sham-kindled rats. Hippocampus-kindled rats also displayed fear-potentiated startle, but no greater than that of sham-kindled rats. Partial amygdala kindling induced c-fos messenger RNA (mRNA) expression, a marker for neuronal activation, throughout the limbic and neocortices. In contrast, partial hippocampus kindling induced c-fos mRNA in the hippocampus only. The data suggest that kindled-induced hyperexcitability of the amygdala and limbic cortices produced exaggerated conditioned fear-potentiated startle.
ISSN:0735-7044
1939-0084
DOI:10.1037/0735-7044.110.1.43