Effects of amygdala prestimulation on neuroplasticity in the hippocampus

Recent research has shown a strong link between emotional and memory systems in the brain. The hippocampus in particular has been the focus of hundreds of studies related to memory formation. Hippocampal synaptic plasticity, e.g., long-term potentiation, which has been proposed as a strong candidate mechanism for memory consolidation may be temporally regulated by distributed neuronal systems in the amygdala, a region long considered as important for emotional aspects of an organism's behavior. In this study, we examined the effects of baso-lateral amygdala prestimulation on subsequent induction of hippocampal synaptic plasticity, i.e., long-term potentiation in the anesthetized and freely-moving rat.