Kindling-induced emotional behavior in male and female rats.

Modeling fear in animals is a critical approach for identifying the neural mechanisms involved in human disorders such as generalized anxiety and panic. Amygdala kindling has proven useful in this regard because it produces dramatic increases in fearful behavior. The purpose of this experiment was to compare the behavioral effects of kindling in male and female rats. Compared with the sham-stimulated rats, the kindled male and female rats showed similar increases in fearful behavior, with some sex differences in fear-related open-field activity. They also showed decreased immobility in the forced-swim test and increased sucrose consumption. These results suggest that kindling-induced fear is generally similar in male and female rats and that kindling does not appear to induce depression-like behavior.