Avoidance and escape behavior following medial thalamic lesions in rats

Brain mechanisms for offense, defense, and submission

A preliminary attempt is made to analyze the intraspecific aggressive behavior of mammals in terms of specific neural circuitry. The results of stimulation, lesion, and recording studies of aggressive behavior in cats and rats are reviewed and analyzed in terms of three hypothetical motivational systems: offense, defense, and submission. A critical distinction, derived from ethological theory, is made between motivating stimuli that simultaneously activate functional groupings of motor patterning mechanisms, and releasing and directing stimuli that are necessary for the activation of discrete motor patterning mechanisms. It is suggested that motivating stimuli activate pathways that converge upon sets of homogeneous neurons, called motivational mechanisms, whose activity determines the motivational state of the animal.

A defense motivational mechanism is hypothesized to be located in the midbrain central gray. In addition to tactile, auditory, and visual inputs from the paleospinothalamic tract, lateral lemniscus, and (perhaps) from the pretectum, it may receive inputs from a major forebrain pathway whose functional significance is not yet understood.

A submission motivational mechanism is also thought to be located in the central gray. In addition to inputs for defense, it is thought to receive a necessary input from a “consociate (social familiarity cue) modulator” located in the ventromedial hypothalamus, which can switch behavior from defense to submission. The location of the hypothetical offense motivational mechanism is not known, although the pathways by which it is activated are traced in some detail.

Brain mechanisms of aggression in primitive mammals and in primates are apparently similar to those in rats and cats.

Effects of parafascicular excitotoxic lesions on two-way active avoidance and odor-discrimination

To investigate whether the parafascicular (PF) nucleus of the thalamus is involved in different learning and memory tasks, two experiments were carried out in adult male Wistar rats that were submitted to pre-training bilateral N-methyl-d-aspartate PF infusions (0.15M, pH 7.4; 1.2 microl/side, 0.2 microl/min). In Experiment 1, we evaluated the effects of PF lesions in two identical 30-trial training sessions, separated by a 24-h interval, of a two-way active avoidance conditioning. PF-lesioned rats exhibited impaired performance in both sessions, measured by number of avoidance responses. In Experiment 2, the effects of PF lesions were assessed in a training session (5 trials) and a 24-h retention test (2 retention trials and 2 relearning trials) of an odor-discrimination task. PF lesions did not significantly disrupt the acquisition or the first retention trial, which was not rewarded. However, lesioned animals' performance was clearly affected in subsequent trials, following the introduction of the single non-rewarded trial. Current data are discussed considering evidence that lesions of the PF nucleus affect learning and memory functions mediated by anatomically related areas of the frontal cortex and striatum.

An operant assay of thermal pain in conscious, unrestrained rats

Methods are described which provide quantification of learned operant and innate reflex responses to a thermal stimulus (heat or cold) and provide matched motor controls. The apparati and procedures consist of (1) an 'Escapetest' which measures latencies and durations of escape from a compartment where the floor is heated or cooled to a platform at neutral temperature in an adjacent compartment; (2) a motor and motivational control for the Escapetest, the 'Darkboxtest', which measures escape latency from bright light in a shuttle box; and (3) assessment of latencies and durations of licking or guarding responses to thermal stimulation in the absence of the escape option. Avoidance responses in the Escapetest (retreating to the escape platform in the absence of an experience of pain) are discouraged by bright illumination of the compartment containing the escape platform (brightly lit areas are aversive to rodents). Stimulus-response functions for escape from heat and cold are compared to stimulus response functions for innate lick/guard responses to the same temperatures. Substantial differences in the relationships between learned or innate responses and temperature attest to a need for methods which evaluate operant responses to nociceptive stimulation.

The effect of thalamic nucleus submedius lesions on nociceptive responding in rats

Previous studies have shown that the thalamic nucleus submedius (SM) contains nociceptive neurons and is interconnected with spinal, brain-stem and cortical regions associated with nociception. The present study was performed to examine the role of the SM in nociceptive-related behaviors. The effect of SM lesions on nociceptive responding in rats was assessed using both the radiant-heat tail-flick (TF) and the tail-shock 'pain-induced' vocalization (PIV) tests. The results of Exp. 1 indicated that the intensity of electrical shock required for vocalization responses was significantly decreased following SM lesions. No changes in vocalization responses were present in the sham-lesion group. In contrast, both the sham- and SM-lesion groups exhibited a significant post-lesion increase in TF latencies. A second experiment was performed to determine whether the effects of SM lesion on the tail flick may have been masked by conditioned antinociception associated with noxious electrical stimulation of the tail to produce PIV. The results indicated that there was no post-lesion change in TF latencies in either the SM- or sham-lesion group when the antecedent PIV test was omitted. The results suggest that the SM may play a role in supraspinally mediated inhibition of nociceptive input but not in spinally mediated responses to noxious stimuli.

NGC-evoked nociceptive behaviors: II. Effect of midbrain and thalamus lesions

Alterations in nociceptive behaviors evoked by stimulation of the nucleus gigantocellularis (NGC) were observed following lesions of the dorsal central gray (DCG) or parafascicularis nucleus (PF) in rats. Lesions of the DCG decreased affective responses and facilitated extinction of avoidance responding associated with NGC stimulation. Lesions of the PF disrupted escape and avoidance responding to NGC stimulation, although postlesion training improved avoidance but not escape performance. The NGC, without its rostral connections to the DCG or PF, does not generate sufficient information for either aversive affective responses or locomotor escape responses that are associated with stimulation of this structure. In contrast, the elicited motor reactions do not depend upon these rostral structures. This supports a role for NGC neurons in functions related to motor, rather than to affective or complex behavioral components of nociception. The differential disruption of the more complex behaviors by DCG and PF lesions provides behavioral evidence for functional differentiation of a nociceptive system involving the relay of information from the NGC to these rostral areas.

The effect of hypophysectomy, ACTH fragments and thalamic lesions upon kindled epilepsy

Hypophysectomized rats showed aberrant and retarded rates of kindled epilepsy. In hypophysectomized rats administered adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) subunits ACTH4-10 and ACTH1-24, the normal kindling pattern was restored. However, in hypophysectomized animals which also had lesions of the thalamus (nucleus parafascicularis), ACTH4-10 did not restore the normal pattern of kindling. There have been many conjectures that kindling may be a subcase of learning. These results are compatible with this hypothesis, since the same procedures act in an analogous fashion within avoidance conditioning paradigms.

Beneficial effect of chronic treatment with Org 2766 and alpha-MSH on impaired reversal learning of rats with bilateral lesions of the parafascicular area

The effects of chronic treatment with the ACTH-(4-9) analogue Org 2766, alpha-MSH, and gamma 2-MSH were studied on T-maze reversal learning and on behavior assessed on the basis of open-field and other gross behavioral activities, grasping responses, inspection of various reflexes and electrical footshock sensitivity of rats with parafascicular lesions or sham-lesions. Repeated administration of Org 2766 and alpha-MSH to parafascicular area-lesioned rats resulted in functional recovery of impaired T-maze reversal learning. The structurally related neuropeptide gamma 2-MSH was without any effect. The alpha-MSH effect did not depend on time after lesioning as treatments during the first or second post-operative week were equally effective. Chronic peptide treatments did not change disturbed motor functions of parafascicular-lesioned rats, as measured by open-field activity, other gross behavioral activities and grasping responses. Since acute peptide treatments did not affect the impaired reversal learning performance of lesioned rats, the beneficial effect of Org 2766 and alpha-MSH could not be explained as a short-term effect on attention and motivation. It was more likely to be an accelerated recovery of cognitive function as a result of long-term neurotropic influences.

Reversal of amnesia by an orally active ACTH 4-9 analog (Org 2766)

The ACTH 4-9 analog, H-Met((O2)-Glu-His-Ph-D-Lys-Phe-OH (Or 2766), attenuates in rats CO2-induced amnesia for a one-trial passive avoidance step-through response when administered prior to the retrieval test but not when given prior to acquisition. Even a dose of 0.001 mug/rat Org 2766 yields an anti-amnesic effect. In this respect Org 2766 is more active than the ACTH fragment ACTH 4-10. An anti-amnesic effect was also obtained when Org 2766 was administered orally. ACTH 4-10 (100 mug/rat) has to be given SC within 8 hr of the retrieval test in order to be effective. A similar time span of effectiveness was observed when Org 2766 was SC injected in a dose of 0.1 mug/rat. The anti-amnesic effect of ACTH 4-10 remains when the time interval between acquisition and retrieval is extended beyond the usual 24 hr. The same appeared to be true for SC ADMINISTERED Org 2766. It is suggested that ACTH-like peptides, and particularly the orally active Org 2766, may be helpful in the treatment of deficient mental performance.