Unilateral inferior olive NMDA lesion leads to unilateral deficit in acquisition and retention of eyelid classical conditioning

Abstract

New Zealand White rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) were trained for acquisition (N = 21) or retention (N = 10) of classical eyelid conditioning with unilateral or bilateral N-methyl-DL-aspartate chemical lesions of the rostromedial dorsal accessory inferior olive (rmDAO; multiple injections totaling 76 to 342 nmol). In all instances, subjects were unable to learn or retain conditioning on the side contralateral to the lesion. Learning rates were comparable for lesions outside of the rmDAO and sham operates. These findings demonstrate a specific unilateral deficit whereas in previous research the answer to this question was ambiguous since electrolytic lesions effectively cause bilateral olivary lesions. This research agrees with the concept that the inferior olive projects essential information about the unconditioned stimulus to a cerebellar locus of learning and memory for classical conditioning.