Effects of Neonatal Isolation on Bidrectional Plasticity of the Basolateral Amygdala-Denate Gyrus Synapse in Freely Behaving Rats

Previous studies have shown synaptic plasticity in the basolateral amygdala-denate gyrus synapse, whereby electrical stilmuation of the basolateral amygdala (BLA) induced potentials in the dentate gyrus (DG) in freely behaving animals. The BLA is known to be involved in emotion and the DG, as a part of the hippocampus, to be responsible for learning and memory. Together, this pathway is thought to link emotion with memory. In this study, we examined the effects of neonatal isolation on synaptic plasticity in the BLA and DG of the freely-moving rat by atilizing both LTP AND LTD.