Partial kindling of the ventral hippocampus: identification of changes in limbic physiology which accompany changes in feline aggression and defense

Abstract

This study examined the interictal consequences of partial kindling of the ventral perforant path on attack and defensive behavior in the domestic cat. Partial kindling produced a lasting increase in defense response of cats to both rats and conspecific threat howls. In addition, there was a lasting suppression of approach-attack behaviors directed toward rats. The suppression of some components of approach-attack were shown to be independent of the increases in defensive response. The effects of partial kindling of the ventral perforant path on spread of seizure activity into the amygdala, and on the output of the amygdala to both the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) were also examined. In addition, the effects of repeated hippocampal seizures on recurrent inhibition in the trisynaptic circuit (areas CA1 and CA3) were investigated. Growth of seizure activity in the amygdala and VMH as partial kindling progressed was essential for behavioral change. In addition, interictal long-term potentiation of potentials evoked in the VMH and in the BNST by pulsed stimulation of the amygdala followed partial kindling or afterdischarge threshold determination in the ventral perforant path. A lasting interictal increase in inhibition in area CA3 and a lasting interictal failure of inhibition in area CA1 of the ventral hippocampus also followed partial kindling. These changes in limbic physiology were related to the behavioral changes produced by partial kindling. The analysis revealed the importance of the amygdalo-VMH pathway in increased defensive response to rats. The amygdalo-BNST pathway is not important in mediating defensive response to prey, but it is implicated in suppression of some types of predatory aggression. Finally, changes in neural inhibition in the ventral hippocampus in areas CA1 and CA3 are associated with changes in both defensiveness and predatory aggression.