Abstract
A PCPA injection (300 mg/kg IP, 3 days before behavioral testing) to naive non pretested rats induced mouse-killing in 74% of the rats, the Wistar strain used comprising approximately 10% of spontaneous mouse-killers. The same PCPA injection induced mouse-killing in only 5% of pretested non-killer rats. Thus, familiarization with mice prevents later elicitation of mouse-killing in PCPA treated rats. Lesions of the amygdala and to a lesser extent, lesions of the stria terminalis abolish this suppressing effect of familiarization and thus facilitate elicitation of mouse-killing in previously non-killer rats. This result confirms the involvement of amygdaloid nuclei and efferent pathways in the suppression of a specific aggressive behavior, namely mouse-killing, on the basis of previous non-aggressive experience with the mouse, this mechanism being unaffected by a cerebral serotonin depletion.
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