Maren S, Aharonov G, Stote D L, Fanselow M S
Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles.
Behav Neurosci. 1996 Dec;110(6):1365-74. doi: 10.1037//0735-7044.110.6.1365.
Three experiments examined the effects of intra-amygdaloid infusions of an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, D,L-2-amino-5-phosphonovalerate (APV), on contextual fear conditioning in rats. In Experiment 1, APV infusion into the basolateral amygdala (BLA), before training, disrupted the acquisition of contextual fear. In Experiment 2, APV produced a disruption of both the acquisition and expression of contextual fear. This blockade of contextual fear was not state dependent, not due to a shift in footshock sensitivity, and not the result of increased motor activity in APV-treated rats. In Experiment 3, fear conditioning was not affected by a posttraining APV infusion into the BLA. These results indicate that NMDA receptors in the BLA are necessary for both the acquisition and expression of Pavlovian fear conditioning to contextual cues in rats.
三项实验研究了向大鼠杏仁核内注射N-甲基-D-天冬氨酸（NMDA）受体拮抗剂D,L-2-氨基-5-磷酸戊酸（APV）对情境恐惧条件反射的影响。在实验1中，训练前向基底外侧杏仁核（BLA）注射APV会干扰情境恐惧的习得。在实验2中，APV对情境恐惧的习得和表达均产生了干扰。这种对情境恐惧的阻断不依赖于状态，不是由于足部电击敏感性的改变，也不是APV处理组大鼠运动活动增加的结果。在实验3中，训练后向BLA注射APV对恐惧条件反射没有影响。这些结果表明，BLA中的NMDA受体对于大鼠对情境线索的巴甫洛夫式恐惧条件反射的习得和表达都是必需的。
