Yohimbine blocks lateral hypothalamus-mediated behaviors.
There exist behavioral and physiological similarities between rats injected with yohimbine and those with lesions of the lateral hypothalamus. The present study sought to determine if behaviors mediated by the lateral hypothalamus would be significantly altered by yohimbine. Deficits in performance of an active avoidance task have been observed after lateral hypothalamic lesions. Likewise, in the present experiment, yohimbine significantly reduced the ability of trained rats to perform in a similar paradigm. Systemic injections of yohimbine caused decrements in lateral hypothalamic self-stimulation behaviors as well as in locomotor activity produced by lateral hypothalamic stimulation. Similar behaviors mediated by the substantia nigra were relatively unaltered by yohimbine. A final experiment revealed that yohimbine reduces the enhanced glucose utilization normally observed at the lateral hypothalamus during electrical stimulation. These data support the view that the lateral hypothalamus may be an important target of yohimbine's CNS actions.
D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D003847:Deoxyglucose; D003864:Depression, Chemical; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D012653:Self Stimulation / Q000187:drug effects; D015016:Yohimbine / Q000494:pharmacology*
D015016:Yohimbine; D003847:Deoxyglucose; D005947:Glucose