Selective olfactory pathway lesions differentially affect runway behavior of the rat

Selective bilateral lesions of the lateral olfactory tract (LOT) and/or the anterior limb of the anterior commissure (AAC) were performed on male rats and their influence on performance of a simple task studied. Rats had to enter and run down an alley for water reward. Whatever the lesion, all the rats succeeded in learning the task but some differences appeared in comparison with intact and sham-operated rats. AAC rats acquired faster the task, whereas LOT rats and AAC + LOT rats took longer to reach the learning criterion.