Abstract
Amygdala kindling in rats increases fear behavior. The neural correlates of this fear are not well understood. In this experiment, we investigated the relation between serotonin receptor binding and mRNA expression and fearful behavior in amygdala-kindled rats. Rats received either 100 kindling stimulations or sham stimulations, and their fear behavior was subsequently assessed in an unfamiliar open field. Then, the rats were sacrificed and 5-HT transporter binding, 5-HT 1A and 5-HT 2A receptor binding, and 5-HT 1A mRNA expression in several brain regions was assessed. The kindled rats were significantly more fearful in the open field than the sham-stimulated rats. They also had significantly more 5-HT 1A receptor binding and mRNA expression in the dentate gyrus than the sham-simulated rats, and these increases in 5-HT 1A receptor binding and mRNA expression were significantly correlated to the increases in fear. There were no significant differences between the kindled and sham-stimulated rats in 5-HT transporter binding or 5-HT 2A receptor binding. These results suggest that alterations in 5-HT 1A receptors in the dentate gyrus may play a role in the expression of kindled fear.
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