Taming in wild rats following medial amygdaloid lesions

Kemble, Ernest D.; Blanchard, D. Caroline; Blanchard, Robert J.; Takushi, Ruby Y.

doi:10.1016/0031-9384(84)90084-2

Cited by 63 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Similarly, c-fos mRNA was increased in the MeA of rats immediately after a 30 min exposure to ferret odor (Masini et al, 2005). The MeA, which lies medial to the CeA, showed the largest increase in c-fos expression within the amygdala and is of interest because earlier studies associated it with fear and defensive responses (Kemble et al, 1984). The MeA projects to areas adjacent to the PVN and also links to neurons in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis that project to the PVN (Herman et al, 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Predator threat induces behavioral inhibition, pituitary-adrenal activation and changes in amygdala CRF-binding protein gene expression

Roseboom

Nanda

Bakshi

et al. 2007

Psychoneuroendocrinology

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SummaryBehavioral inhibition (BI) is an adaptive defensive response to threat; however, extreme BI is associated with anxiety-related psychopathology. When rats are exposed to a natural predator they display stress-and anxiety-related behavioral alterations and physiological activation. To develop a preclinical rodent model to study mechanisms underlying human BI and anxiety, we examined the extent to which ferret exposure elicits anxiety-related BI and HPA and amygdala activation of the CRF system. In the first experiment, BI and other behaviors were assessed in the presence or absence of a ferret. In the second experiment, ferret-induced corticosterone release and changes in brain cfos expression were assessed. In the final experiment, gene chip and quantitative real time-PCR analyses were performed on amygdala tissue from control and ferret-exposed rats. Ferret exposure increased BI and submissive posturing, as well as plasma corticosterone and the number of Fospositive cells in several brain regions including the amygdala. Gene expression analysis revealed increased amygdalar mRNA for CRF-binding protein, but not the CRF 1 receptor, CRF 2 receptor or CRF. In rodents, ferret exposure can be used to elicit anxiety-related BI, which is associated with HPA and amygdala activation. Since the amygdala and the CRF system have been implicated in adaptive and maladaptive anxiety responses in humans, these data support use of our rodent model to further investigate mechanisms underlying anxiety-related psychopathology in humans.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Predator threat induces behavioral inhibition, pituitary-adrenal activation and changes in amygdala CRF-binding protein gene expression

Roseboom

Nanda

Bakshi

et al. 2007

Psychoneuroendocrinology

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“…Lesions in the amygdala will block both conditioned and unconditioned fear responses (15), giving further evidence of the role of the amygdala as the fear center of the brain. Large lesions in the amygdala have a taming effect on rats and reduce the size of the flight zone (56).…”

Section: The Role Of Fearmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review: Reducing Handling Stress Improves Both Productivity and Welfare

Pas

Oldfield²,

Boyd³

1998

The Professional Animal Scientist

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Reducing stress on livestock during handling will help reduce sickness and enable cattle to go back on feed more quickly. Many detrimental effects of handling stressors on animal performance and health are likely due to fear. Practical experience on ranches and feedlots shows that making cattle accustomed to people both on foot and on horseback will produce calmer and easier to handle cattle. An animal's first experience with a new corral, a person, or pieces of equipment should be made as positive as possible. If a painful or very aversive procedure is done the first time, it may be difficult to persuade the animal to re-enter the facility. The following tips will improve handling: move small numbers of animals at a time, do not overload the crowd pen, eliminate electric prods, open anti-back gates, eliminate visual distractions that make animals balk, use flight zone and point of balance principles, and reduce noise.

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“…Blanchard, & Takushi, 1984), basal ganglia (D. C. Blanchard, R. J. , and central gray (D. C. Blanchard, Williams, Lee, & R. J. damage. These tests do not involve painful stimulation, but instead measure natural defensive and fear-related behaviors of wild and laboratory rats to biologically meaningful threat stimuli.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mesial cortical lesions and fear behavior in the wild rat

et al. 1984

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Defensive behaviors of wild Rattus rattus were examined following lesions of anterior or posterior mesial cortex or control lesions in lateral cortical areas. The experimental lesions did not reduce flight, fear-based biting, or reactivity to contact or handling in these wild rats. The high levels offear-related behaviors seen before surgery continued for all groups. Damage to the mesial cortex, which involves equivalents to the human prefrontal cortex, thus produced no indication of reductions in a variety of fear-related behaviors.In one of the most influential experiments in neurobiology to date, Fulton and Jacobsen (1935) found an indication of decreased reaction to frustration in one of two chimpanzees with presumably identical lesions of the frontal lobes. This experiment triggered not only experiments on relations of the frontal lobes and emotions, but also a neurosurgical discipline presently known as "psychosurgery" (Freeman & Watts, 1942;Moniz, 1936). Today, "the most appropriate candidates for psychosurgery are patients described as suffering from very intense and persistent emotional responses" (Valenstein, 1980b, p. 89). The mesial frontal cortex is a frequent target of neurosurgeons for relief from these symptoms (Valenstein, 1980a).The role of the prefrontal cortex in "emotionality" is controversial: some experiments suggest such an involvement (Butter & Snyder, 1972;Kolb, 1974;Markowska & Lukaszewska, 1980), whereas others do not (e.g., Ursin & Divac, 1975). This controversy, which may be explained by differences in the studied species, the ablated cortical area, and the applied tests (Ursin & Divac, 1975) is not found when other properties of the prefrontal cortex are considered. Thus, in all studied species, the prefrontal area, defined as the cortical target of the thalamic mediodorsal nucleus, was found to receive a strong dopaminergic innervation (e.g., Divac, Bjorklund, Lindvall, & Passingham, 1978) and to mediate delayed response-type behavior (e.g., Wikmark, Divac, & Weiss, 1973).Relevance for psychosurgery requires detailed knowledge of the consequences of prefrontal lesions on var- ious aspects of emotional behavior. In the present study, we used wild trapped rats (Rattus rattus), which show more complete species-specific emotional behavior than do laboratory strains (Takahashi & R. J. Blanchard, 1982). In our animals, either the anterior or posterior mesial cortex was ablated. This part of the rat cortex has been considered to be especially involved in speciesspecific behaviors (Thomas, Hostetter, & Barker, 1968) and its rostral half in some aspects of emotional behavior (Kolb, 1974;Markowska, & Lukaszewska, 1980). Anatomically, the rat anterior mesial cortex contains equivalents of the frontal eye field, the anterior limbic cortex, and both the medial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of the monkey (and presumably human) brain (see, e.g., Divac, Kosmal, Bjorklund, & Lindvall, 1978). METHODS AND PROCEDURES SurgeryThe lesions were made in rats anesthetized with pentobarbital by gentle ...

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Taming in wild rats following medial amygdaloid lesions

Cited by 63 publications

References 6 publications

Predator threat induces behavioral inhibition, pituitary-adrenal activation and changes in amygdala CRF-binding protein gene expression

Predator threat induces behavioral inhibition, pituitary-adrenal activation and changes in amygdala CRF-binding protein gene expression

Review: Reducing Handling Stress Improves Both Productivity and Welfare

Mesial cortical lesions and fear behavior in the wild rat

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