Recovery from Lesion-Associated Learning Deficits by Fetal Amygdala Transplants

[摘要] Bilateral lesions of the amygdaloid complexresult in elimination or attenuation of theconditioned freezing that is normally seen in theconditioned emotional response (CER) paradigmand the active avoidance (AA) task. We observedthe effect of amygdalar tissue transplantationon the ability of lesioned (central nucleus ofamygdala, CeA) rats to learn CER and AA. Intwo groups of adult Wistar rats, sham operationor bilateral lesions of the CeA were producedelectrolytically (2mA for 8 sec). In a third group,fetal amygdalar tissue was transplanted at theCeA-lesioned site 2 d postoperatively. All ratswere trained on CER and AA from the6thpostoperative day. In comparison with the shamoperatedgroup, bilaterally CeA-lesioned ratsshowed a significant (p<0.001) increase in allCER scores, indicating an acquisition deficit.After fetal amygdalar tissue transplantation,the CER scores significantly decreased (p<0.05) when compared with the lesioned group. Asignificant (p<0.01) decrease in the percentageof avoidance in the AA task occurring afterCeA lesion returned to control values afteramygdalar tissue transplantation. In conclusion,in CeA-lesioned rats a complete behavioraldeficit in learning CER and AA was restored bytransplanting fetal amygdalar tissue at thelesioned site.

[学科分类] 精神健康和精神病学