The effects of radio-frequency lesions of the nucleus accumbens ond-amphetamine-induced locomotor and rearing behavior in rats

✍ Scribed by John H. Kehne; William W. Sant; Charles A. Sorenson

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1981
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 655 KB
• Volume: 75
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0033-3158
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00435854

✦ Synopsis

A large body of evidence supports the conclusion that mesolimbic dopaminergic neurons, particularly those that innervate the nucleus accumbens (n. ACC), are important for the expression of amphetamine-stimulated locomotor behavior (ASLB), However, a contradictory report (Wirtshafter et al. 1978), stating that bilateral lesions of the n. ACC fail to block ASLB, was based on a general measure of activity that did not distinguish between locomotion and rearing. In the present study, observer ratings of videotaped responses were used to detcrmine the separate effects of 2.0 mg/kg d-amphetamine (d-AMP) on locomotion and rearing in rats with either sham or radio-frequency lesions of the n. ACC. The n.ACC lesions blocked the locomotor stimulation, but not the increased rearing that follows d-AMP administration. These results support the general conclusion that dopaminergic terminals in the n. ACC are important for the expression of ASLB, and further suggest that d-AMPstimulated locomotion and rearing are mediated through different neural substrates.