Amygdala kindling increased fear-response, but did not impair spatial memory in rats

The behavioral effects of amygdala kindling, a model of experimental epilepsy in rats, are reported. The animals were stimulated twice a day until stage 5 (generalized clonic) seizures were obtained three times. Two weeks later the performance of the amygdala-kindled and sham-operated rats was tested in the open-field test, on the elevated plus maze, elevated bridges, and in the Morris water maze. The results show that amygdala kindling decreased exploratory and other motor activity in the open-field test, had anxiogenic effects on the elevated plus-maze, decreased boldness on the elevated bridges, but had a negligible affect in the spatial memory task. These results suggest that amygdala kindling affects the normal fear reaction of rats, a response that is known to be mediated through the amygdaloid pathways.