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The Journal of Neuroscience, March 15, 2001, 21(6):2067-2074
The Primate Amygdala Mediates Acute Fear But Not the Behavioral
and Physiological Components of Anxious Temperament
Ned H.
Kalin1, 2,
Steven
E.
Shelton1,
Richard J.
Davidson1, 2, and
Ann E.
Kelley1
Departments of 1 Psychiatry and
2 Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
53719
Temperamentally anxious individuals can be identified in childhood
and are at risk to develop anxiety and depressive disorders. In
addition, these individuals tend to have extreme asymmetric right
prefrontal brain activity. Although common and clinically important,
little is known about the pathophysiology of anxious temperament.
Regardless, indirect evidence from rodent studies and difficult to
interpret primate studies is used to support the hypothesis that the
amygdala plays a central role. In previous studies using rhesus
monkeys, we characterized an anxious temperament endophenotype that is
associated with excessive anxiety and fear-related responses and
increased electrical activity in right frontal brain regions. To
examine the role of the amygdala in mediating this endophenotype and
other fearful responses, we prepared monkeys with selective fiber
sparing ibotenic acid lesions of the amygdala. Unconditioned trait-like
anxiety-fear responses remained intact in monkeys with >95%
bilateral amygdala destruction. In addition, the lesions did not affect
EEG frontal asymmetry. However, acute unconditioned fear responses,
such as those elicited by exposure to a snake and to an unfamiliar
threatening conspecific were blunted in monkeys with >70% lesions.
These findings demonstrate that the primate amygdala is involved in
mediating some acute unconditioned fear responses but challenge the
notion that the amygdala is the key structure underlying the
dispositional behavioral and physiological characteristics of anxious temperament.
Key words:
rhesus monkey; anxiety; fear; amygdala; temperament; EEG
Copyright © 2001 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/01/2162067-08$05.00/0
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