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Effects of the central amygdaloid nucleus lesions on the gustatory responses in the parabrachial nucleus in rats

KANG YAN, Yan hai Qun, Huang Tao

Department of Physiology，Xi'an jiaotong University Medical of School，Xi'an 710061，China

Abstract

To access the role of the central nucleus of the amygdala(CeA) in the gustatory activity in the pontine parabrachial nucle us(PBN)，the responses to four prototypical taste stimuli(NaCl，HCl，QH, Sq and sucrose) in the PBN were observed before and after bilateral electrolytic lesion of the CeA in the urethane-anesthetized rat.Cf 29 neurons，14 were classified as NaCl-best，9 as
HCl- best，3 as QH2S04 best and 3 sucrose-best.After Cc A lesions，the response rates to HC1 and QH2Sqwere statistically higher across all PBN neurons(P(0.01).According to the best-stimulus category，the effects on the responses to HCl and QH2Sq we resimilarly subjected to these modulations in NaCl-best，HCl- best and QH2S04 best neurons.Correlation analysis indicated that the
CeA lesion depressed the effect on the chemical selection between NaCl and QH2Sq .These findings suggest that the CeA plays an important role in the taste coding at the pontine level and it may be involved in mediating the feeding behavior via modulating the gustatory responses.

Key words: parabrachial nucleus;gustatory neurons;central amygdaloid nucleus;electrolytic lesion;rat

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Citing This Article：

KANG YAN, Yan hai Qun, Huang Tao. Effects of the central amygdaloid nucleus lesions on the gustatory responses in the parabrachial nucleus in rats. Acta Physiol Sin 2003; 55 (3): (in Chinese with English abstract).