Quantifying Basolateral Amygdalar Neuron Morphology

As described in detail previously [18 (link)], coronal slices between bregma -2.54 and -3.24 were surveyed for principal neurons within the BLA, using the internal capsule and the external capsule as landmarks with the aid of a rat brain atlas [34 ]. The contour function in Neurolucida 7 (MBF Bioscience, VT, USA) was used to demarcate the BLA and the LA in each slice. Between 2 and 6 neurons were sampled from the anterior and posterior basolateral amygdaloid nuclei within the BLA from each animal (Fig 1) and were traced for dendritic length parameters using a 63x objective or for spine densities (reported as spines per 100 μm) using a 100x objective on a Zeiss Axioskop II (Carl Zeiss, Germany) using an automated xyz stage driven by Neurolucida^® 7 software (MBF Biosciences, VT, USA). All tracing was performed in a blinded fashion with respect to treatment. Morphological parameters of Golgi-Cox impregnated neurons were analyzed in a manner similar to previous reports [35 (link)].