Figure 2.

mPFC-BLA disconnection procedure. Animals with contralateral excitotoxic lesions received a unilateral lesion to the mPFC and a unilateral lesion to the BLA in opposite hemispheres. The contralateral lesion disrupted communication between the mPFC and BLA in both hemispheres. Animals with ipsilateral lesions received a unilateral lesion of the mPFC and a unilateral lesion of the BLA within the same hemisphere. Thus, the connection between the two structures was preserved in one hemisphere in these rats. If the concurrent activation of both the mPFC and BLA is necessary for the learning deficit after stress, then animals with contralateral lesions should learn well even though they were exposed to the stressor.