The role of the stria terminalis as an efferent amygdaloid pathway

Extracellular action potentials were recorded from spontaneously active septopreoptic neurones responding to amygdala stimulation in the urethane-anaesthetized rat. Initial responses were either excitation or inhibition. All responses contained an inhibitory component and were characterized according to postinhibitory excitation. Response characteristics or firing rates were not altered by ipsilateral or bilateral lesion of the stria terminalis (ST). It is suggested that impulses from the amygdala that influence ovulation, as well as several other functions, may travel in the ventral amygdalofugal pathway (VAF).