Genetic relation between the performance in a two-way avoidance task and increased emotionality following septal...

Large radio frequency septal lesions were performed on male Roman low (RLA/Verh) and high (RHA/Verh) avoidance rats. It was found that the genetic low-avoiders displayed higher acute postoperative irritability than the genetic high-avoiders. This result had been predicted a-priori from an independent set of data, relating the ability to master active avoidance inversely to general emotionality and readiness to engage in intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS), and from research demonstrating a genetic correlation between the severity of the septsal syndrome, and the readiness to engage in ICSS. On the sixth postoperative day, all animals were tested for their performance in a standard shuttle box avoidance task. It was found that septal lesions did not affect the performance of either the low or high genetic avoiders, which behaved as expected from their respective genotypes.