A comparison of the effect of preoperative gentling on the mouse killing and reactivity induced by lesions of the lateral septum, the medial accumbens nucleus, and the medial hypothalamus.

Adult male rats were either gentled or not gentled 10 min each day for 5 days and then subjected to lesions of the lateral septum, the medial accumbens, the medial hypothalamus, or were given sham lesions. Mouse killing was tested in the living cage on Days 2, 7, and 14 postoperatively while reactivity to the experimenter was tested on Days 3, 8, and 15. The frequency of killing in the gentled groups was always significantly higher than that of the gentled sham-lesion controls, but the frequency of killing by the nongentled groups was seldom significantly higher than that of the nongentled sham-lesioned controls. Gentling caused a slight enhancement of killing in the lesioned animals and a slight attenuation of killing in the sham lesioned animals. Preoperative gentling attenuated reactivity to the experimenter in animals with lesions of the lateral septum but not in those with lesions of the medial accumbens nucleus or the medial hypothalamus. The observation that preoperative gentling tends to increase mouse killing confirms previous observations. The finding that preoperative gentling attenuates reactivity following septal but not medial accumbens or medial hypothalamic lesions suggests that these structures subserve different functions in the inhibitory modulation of defensive behavior.