The central amygdala is involved in conditioning but not in retention of active and passive shock avoidance in male rats

The present study was designed to further characterize the involvement of the central amygdaloid nucleus (CEA) in the conditioning and the retention of both active and passive stress-related behaviors. Active shock avoidance was investigated in a shuttle-box. CEA-lesioned and sham-operated animals received 30 trials on 2 consecutive days. During the first day of conditioning, the CEA-lesioned animals failed to learn to avoid, but on the second day these rats showed avoidance behavior that was comparable to the sham-lesioned ones. When lesioned animals received a total of 60 trials on 1 day, they failed to show avoidance, suggesting deficits in acquisition performance but presence of latent learning following CEA lesioning. However, the retention response, which was studied by lesioning the CEA between a 2-day avoidance training and a retention test, was unaffected. Stress-related learning was also studied in a test of passive avoidance of a previously received single, inescapable electric footshock. When the lesion was placed before the single learning trial, the retention of the response was absent. However, CEA-lesioning after the learning trial revealed no differences between the CEA-lesioned and sham-lesioned animals. In conclusion, these results demonstrate that the CEA is involved in the conditioning rather than retention of both active and passive shock avoidance responses