Amygdaloid lesions produced similar contextual fear conditioning disruption in the Carioca high- and low-conditioned freezing rats

Rats selectively bred for high or low levels of emotionality represent an important and powerful tool to investigate the role of genetic variables in the occurrence of different anxiety disorders. In the present study, albino rats were selectively bred for differences in defensive freezing behavior in response to contextual cues previously associated with footshock, an animal model of general anxiety disorder. The results indicate that these two new lines of rats, which we refer to as Carioca High-Freezing (CHF) and Carioca Low-Freezing (CLF), show a reliable difference in conditioned freezing after three generations of selection. CHF and CLF rats did not present any differences during baseline or post-shock periods. Males from both lines consistently exhibit more conditioned freezing to contextual cues than females. A second experiment used male rats from the fourth generation to investigate the participation of the amygdala during contextual fear conditioning in the CHF and CLF lines. The results indicate that post-training amygdaloid electrolytic lesions lead to similar disruptions in conditioned freezing behavior in both animal lines.