AMYGDALA AND DORSAL HIPPOCAMPUS LESIONS BLOCK THE EFFECTS OF GABAERGIC DRUGS ON MEMORY STORAGE

These experiments examined the effects of posttraining systemic administration of the GABAergic agonist muscimol and the GABAergic antagonist bicuculline on retention in mice with bilateral lesions of the amygdala, dorsal hippocampus or caudate nucleus. Unoperated male CD1 mice and mice with either sham lesions or electrolytically induced lesions of these 3 brain regions were trained in a one-trail inhibitory avoidance task and, immediately after training, received i.p. injections of either muscimol, (1.0, 2.0 or 3.0 mg/kg), bicuculline, (0.25, 0.5 or 1.0 mg/kg), or control solutions. Retention was tested 24 h after training. Lesions of the 3 brain regions produced comparable impairment of retention. In the unoperated controls and sham controls muscimol and bicuculline produced dose-dependent impairment and enhancement, respectively, of retention. The drug effects on retention were blocked by lesions of the amygdala and hippocampus, but were not blocked by lesions of the caudate nucleus. These findings are consistent with other recent evidence suggesting that the amygdala and hippocampus are involved in mediating posttraining neuromodulatory influences on memory storage.