Effect of bilateral olfactory bulbectomy on discrimination avoidance conditioning in rats

Studies were made with the two-way shuttle box method on the acquisition of discrimination avoidance learning by olfactory bulbectomized rats in relation to changes in emotional behavior. Bulbectomized rats showed a marked increase in locomotor activity, with accompanying augmentation of the reactivity and the appearance of muricidal behavior. Initially, the bulbectomized rats showed elevated conditioned avoidance responses to both the CS+ and the CS-. In later stages, there was a continued slow increase in responses to the CS+ accompanied by a decrease in responses to the CS-, until responses to both stimuli were only slightly elevated above the levels shown by control rats. This result suggests that olfactory bulbectomy does not affect discrimination ability itself, but the impairment of discrimination during the initial stages is resulted from hyperemotionality induced by olfactory bulbectomy.