Chemical variation in brain loci during shock avoidance

Abstract

RNA/DNA, protein/DNA. and protein/RNA ratios. supplemented by radioisotope indices. indicated that portions of the I'entral cortex and dorsal cortex in the rat may contribute uniquely to shock aJ'oidance behal·ior. Chitre & Talwar (1963) reported that RNA/DNA and protein/DNA ratios change during behavioral events. In preliminary experiments in this laboratory with auditory stimulation or forced motor activity for various periods, these ratios (and protein/RNA) showed an orderly change in the cortical site appropriate to the event, but not in other sites. There were increases at 10 and 20 min whereas 30 min results tended to be the same as at 0 min. The present experiments used these ratios, supplemented by radioisotope incorporation, to detennine brain sites contributing to shock avoidance conditioning. METHOD The task was one way active avoidance conditioning with the shock level set at 2.5 rnA. Eight or more Iittennates (Wistar strain) were used for all conditions in each of four experiments; their ages varied from 60 to 210 days over the four experiments but within each experiment the ages were similar. All but three litters were males.In Experiment I there were three groups: Shock Avoidance, E (given 15 trials in 15 min); Shock. S (received the same duration of shock, and at the same points in the 15 min session, as had the Iittennate in the E Group); and Controls, C (in the shock chamber for 15 min without any treatment). All rats were allowed a 15 min adaptation period in the shock chamber. Because the S rats might have learned aspects other than to avoid shock, this group was replaced in the second experiment by animals (A) that were anesthetized during the time in the apparatus. However, the anesthetic introduced contaminating changes in the neurochemistry; thus, in the other experiments only two groups of rats were used, E and C.At the end of the 30 min period in the apparatus each rat was sacrificed by immersion in liquid nitrogen for 10 sec. The brain was rapidly removed and sectioned into 10 parts (Fig. I): anterior ventral cortex (A V), medial ventral cortex (MV), posterior ventral cortex (PV), anterior dorsal cortex (AD), medial dorsal cortex (MD), posterior dorsal cortex (PD), cerebral hemispheres (CH), cerebellum (CB), upper brain stem (UBS), and lower brain stem (LBS) (sectioned just below the inferior colliculi). RNA, DNA, and proteins were extracted by a modified Schmidt-Thannhauser procedure and the amounts of each detennined by spectophotometric analysis. In Experiment 3 each rat was injected intracranially with 5 J.LC of orotic acid _6-C 14 (precursor of RNA; specific activity -34.7 mc/mM) and in Experiment 4 with 5 J.LC of valine-C14 (precursor of protein; specific activity -117 mc/mM to

Autoradiographic Demonstration of Biochemical Changes in the Limbic System During Avoidance Training

“…Hyd6n and Lange,' using microdissection and microchemical analysis, found increased leucine-H3 incorporation into hippocampal pyramidal cells in rats trained to reach for food with their initially unfavored paw. Gaito et al and Zemp et al 2 found increased incorporation of labeled lysine or uridine in homogenates of brain tissue from rats and mice trained in one-way avoidance tasks.…”