title: Amphetamine-like stimulus properties produced by electrical stimulation of reward sites in the ventral tegmental area.
abstract: The present study examined whether the stimulus properties of D-amphetamine could be mimicked by electrical stimulation of the ventral tegmental area (VTA). Rats trained to discriminate 1.0 mg/kg D-amphetamine from saline were given generalization tests with a range of D-amphetamine doses administered either alone or in combination with VTA stimulation. The results suggested that the VTA stimulation could enhance the cueing effects of D-amphetamine, as levels of responding on the D-amphetamine-appropriate lever during stimulation trials were increased relative to tests without stimulation. Individual differences were observed in the amount of drug-lever responding elicited by the VTA stimulation during drug-free substitution tests, and the different levels of drug-lever responding correlated positively with the response rates obtained from these rats during subsequent intracranial self-stimulation tests. These finding suggest that VTA stimulation can have D-amphetamine-like stimulus properties and such stimulus properties may be related to the rewarding effects of the brain stimulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Druhan
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Fibiger
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Phillips
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001143:Arousal / Q000187:drug effects*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003913:Dextroamphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000187:drug effects; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine / Q000187:drug effects*; D012653:Self Stimulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D012686:Septal Nuclei / Q000187:drug effects*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects; D013681:Tegmentum Mesencephali / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D011954:Receptors, Dopamine; D003913:Dextroamphetamine