Inactivation of the basolateral amygdala suppresses the expression of taste neophobia but not the retrieval process in attenuation of neophobia.

In this study, we examined the effect of pharmacological inactivation of the basolateral nucleus of the amygdala (BLA) on taste neophobia in rats using muscimol, a GABAA receptor agonist. Rats treated with muscimol infused into the bilateral BLA showed a suppressed but not totally abolished neophobic reaction to a novel saccharin solution compared to that observed in control rats. This result indicates that BLA function is important, but not essential, for expression of a neophobic reaction to a novel sweet taste solution. However, infusion of muscimol into the BLA did not disrupt attenuation of neophobia, which implies the presence of a retrieval process in safe taste memory.
PMID: 31173797 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Behavioural Brain Research - June 3, 2019 Category: Neurology Authors: Shinohara K, Yasoshima Y Tags: Behav Brain Res Source Type: research