Primate drinking system as defined by electrical stimulation of the brain (ESB).
Four rhesus monkeys were examined by ESB for drinking sites in structures that had been previously demonstrated to support drinking behavior. Three yielded a significantly greater proportion of drinking sites than expected from the earlier study, and one yielded significantly less. As the exploration proceeded, the proportion of sites yielding drinking greatly increased in the drinkers and decreased in the nondrinker, and the ratio of stimulus-bound to nonstimulus-bound drinking sites increased in the drinkers but decreased in the nondrinker. Orienting responses decreased in both drinker and nondrinker as exploration proceeded. Two sites that had reliably supported drinking in the restraint chair failed to do so when telestimulated in a free environment, but instead yielded turning, walking, and climbing behavior. The results suggest that ESB-elicited drinking is determined by stimulation of several overlapping neural systems. These probably include ascending dopaminergic and cholinergic systems which are relatively thirst specific, and a nonspecific, cholinergic component of the reticular activating system  which triggers the animal to execute a prepotent response which is specific to a given animal with a given history of stimulation under particular enviromental constraints. The learning of stimulus bound drinking is proposed to have its neural locus within the system which mediates the prepotent response, rather than in a thirst system or general activation system.
D000818:Animals; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000502:physiology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D003337:Corpus Callosum / Q000502:physiology; D004327:Drinking Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D000882:Haplorhini; D008032:Limbic System / Q000502:physiology; D008251:Macaca / Q000502:physiology*; D008253:Macaca mulatta / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000502:physiology; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012018:Reflex; D013788:Thalamus / Q000502:physiology; D013894:Thirst / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors