Basolateral amygdala activity during the retrieval of associative learning under anesthesia

Associative learning can occur under anesthesia and its neural correlates have begun to be elucidated. During discrimination learning under anesthesia in rats, lateral amygdala excitability increases in response to a conditioned stimulus (CS+) previously paired with electrical stimulation of the paw but not to another stimulus presented alone (CS−). Similarly, medial prefrontal cortex activity increases selectively during CS+ presentation after discrimination learning but this occurs only in neurons receiving input from the basolateral amygdala (BLA), the main source of amygdaloid projections to this region. However, BLA activity during discrimination learning under anesthesia has not been investigated. Here we used in vivo electrophysiology to examine BLA activity before and after associative learning and during later memory retrieval in anesthetized rats. We examined extracellular unit and local field potential (LFP) activity using an auditory discrimination learning paradigm. Rats were repeatedly presented with two distinct sounds, one of which was paired with electrical stimulation of the paw. One hour later, the paired sound (CS+) was presented alone along with the sound not paired with electrical stimulation (CS−). We found increased unit firing late (1 h) but not early (5 min) after learning. LFP power was increased both early and late after learning. In control experiments we also found increased unit and LFP activity late after electrical stimulation alone. After discrimination learning, unit firing increased in response to CS+, but not CS−, presentation. LFP power also showed a modest increase during CS+, compared to CS−, presentation. These findings suggest that discrimination learning under anesthesia can occur at the neural level in BLA. The potential relevance of these results is discussed in relation to previous studies examining neural activity during fear learning and memory processing in conscious animals.

► We examined BLA activity before and after discrimination learning under anesthesia.
► BLA activity was increased 1 h after CS+/electrical stimulation pairings.
► BLA activity was also increased 1 h after electrical stimulation alone.
► After learning, BLA activity increased during CS+, but not CS−, presentation.
► Discrimination learning under anesthesia can occur at the neural level in BLA.