A comparison of amygdaloid lesion effects in male and female rats

Amygdaloid lesions decreased the latency of male rats to initiate consumption of a novel food but increased latencies among females. Lesions also depressed the rate of postoperative weight gain of male but not female subjects. Female rats showed shorter latencies on three other ingestional and grooming measures and more rapid acquisition of a passive avoidance task. There were no lesion effects or lesion by sex interactions on these measures. There were also no group differences or interactions in the acquisition of a simple active avoidance task. Further investigations of sex differences in amygdaloid function are suggested.