Effect of bilateral ibotenic acid lesions in the basolateral amygdala on the sham feeding response to sucrose in the rat

Abstract

To investigate the role of the basolateral amygdaloid complex in the sham feeding response to sucrose, rats received bilateral ibotenic acid lesions of the basolateral complex and were equipped for sham feeding with implanted chronic gastric cannulas. Rats were also tested on different days with 2.5%, 5%, 10%, and 40% sucrose. After 17 hours of food deprivation, bilateral, amygdaloid-lesioned rats sham fed significantly less 2.5% sucrose than sham operated (control) rats. After no deprivation, amygdaloid-lesioned rats sham fed significantly less 5% sucrose than control rats. Under both deprivation conditions, however, sham intake was a function of sucrose concentration in both groups of rats and the sham feeding responses of lesioned and control rats to 10% and 40% sucrose were similar. These results demonstrate that cells in the basolateral amygdaloid complex are necessary for the normal sham feeding response to concentrations of sucrose less than 10%, but not for the response to higher concentrations of sucrose.