Inactivation of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis suppresses the innate fear responses of rats induced by the odor of cat urine

Abstract

In this study,we investigated whether two brain regions,the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis(BNST)and the basolateral amygdala(BLA),affected male rats(Rattus norvigicus)ability to innately discriminate between a predator odor(cat urine)and female rat urine.Muscimol,a GABAa receptor agonist,was bilaterally microinjected into either the BNST or BLA of rats through implanted