Diverse Sensitivity of RHA/Verh and RLA/Verh Rats to Emotional and Spatial Aspects of a Novel Environment as a Result of a Distinct Pattern of Neuronal Activation in the Fear/Anxiety Circuit.

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    • Subject Terms:
      EMOTIONS; GENE expression; HUMAN behavior; LABORATORY rats; BEHAVIOR genetics
    • Abstract:
      Psychogenetically selected Roman high (RHA/Verh) and Roman low (RLA/Verh) avoidance rats constitute a well-recognized model of diverse emotional reactivity. The two Swiss lines display marked behavioral and endocrine differences in reaction to a novel environment. In our study we found that these differences are accompanied by a distinct, line-specific pattern of neuronal activation within the fear/anxiety circuit. We have compared the c-Fos protein expression in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), basolateral (BLA), central (CeA), medial (MeA), and cortical (CoA) nuclei of amygdala, paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), and CA1, CA2, and CA3 fields of the hippocampus upon exposure to a novel situation of different stressorgeneity (open field with illuminated center, elevated plus maze, hole board test and acute restraint). Profound between-line differences in the sensitivity to emotional and spatial aspects of the behavioral challenge were observed for tests measuring spontaneous behavior. This effect seems to reflect different motivational factors driving the rat behavior, which clearly suggests that the diverse emotional reactivity of RHA/Verh and RLA/Verh rats is a result of different activation of the fear/anxiety circuit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
    • Abstract:
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