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The Journal of Neuroscience, May 1, 2001, 21(9):3271-3281

Medial Geniculate, Amygdalar and Cingulate Cortical Training-Induced Neuronal Activity during Discriminative Avoidance Learning in Rabbits with Auditory Cortical Lesions

Adam D. Duvel¹, David M. Smith¹, Andrew Talk³, and Michael Gabriel^{1, 2, 3}

¹ Neuroscience Program, ² Department of Psychology, and ³ Beckman Institute, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801

This study addressed the neural mediation of discriminative avoidance learning, wherein rabbits step in a wheel apparatus in response to an acoustic conditional stimulus, the CS+, to avoid a foot shock, and they learn to ignore a different stimulus, the CS, not followed by foot shock. Previously, muscimol-induced inactivation of the amygdala in the first session of training prevented learning during the inactivation and permanently blocked the development of discriminative training-induced neuronal activity (TIA) in the medial division of the medial geniculate nucleus (MGm). These results suggested that amygdalar neurons induce discriminative TIA in the MGm via basolateral (BL) amygdalar axonal projections to the auditory cortex. To test this hypothesis, the activity of neurons in the MGm was recorded during learning in rabbits with lesions of the auditory cortex. Recordings were also made in the lateral and BL amygdalar nuclei and in the cingulate cortex. In support of the hypothesis, discriminative learning in rabbits with lesions was impaired significantly during early training sessions 1-4; in these same sessions, discriminative TIA was abolished in the MGm, the BL nucleus, and the anterior cingulate cortex. The lesions also blocked posterior cingulate cortical discriminative TIA in training sessions 1-2 but spared TIA in sessions 3-7. Lateral amygdalar neurons showed gradual development of discrimination that was not significantly affected by the lesions. The results demonstrate a critical role of auditory cortex in early discriminative learning and in the production of early discriminative TIA in multiple areas.

Key words: lesions; rabbits; multisite neuronal activity; discriminative avoidance learning; medial geniculate nucleus; lateral amygdala; basolateral amygdala; cingulate cortex

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Copyright © 2001 Society for Neuroscience  0270-6474/01/2193271-11$05.00/0

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. M. Smith, J. H. Freeman Jr, D. Nicholson, and M. Gabriel Limbic Thalamic Lesions, Appetitively Motivated Discrimination Learning, and Training-Induced Neuronal Activity in Rabbits J. Neurosci., September 15, 2002; 22(18): 8212 - 8221. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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