Basomedial amygdaloid lesions and p-CPA induced muricidal aggression.

Bilateral lesions of basomedial amygdaloid nuclei are capable of significantly inhibiting muricidal aggression induced by oral p-chlorophenylalanine (p-CPA) in male rats. Rats lesioned in extra-amygdaloid structures or sham-lesioned show the usual p-CPA-induced muricidal activity, which ranges from 70 to 80% of treated animals. The results obtained indicate that basomedial amygdaloid nuclei play an important role in regulating p-CPA-induced muricidal aggression, even though the effect lasts for a relatively limited period of time. This fact is probably due to the intervention of still unidentified compensatory mechanisms.