Dopamine and preparatory behavior: I. Effects of pimozide.
The involvement of dopaminergic systems in appetitive and ingestive feeding behaviors was investigated in two experiments. Conditioned preparatory responses to a conditional stimulus (CS+) signaling delivery of a meal were attenuated in rats by doses of 0.4 and 0.6 mg/kg of the dopamine receptor antagonist pimozide. In contrast, animals responded in a normal fashion following the delivery of food. Similarly, in a separate study, the 20-min free-feeding intake of liquid diet by rats that had been deprived of food for 23 hr was unaffected by doses of pimozide as high as 0.6 mg/kg. These findings are consistent with the involvement of dopamine in the production of preparatory behaviors elicited by incentive stimuli.
D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior / Q000187:drug effects*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects; D003259:Consummatory Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D003463:Cues; D004298:Dopamine / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D010868:Pimozide / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine / Q000187:drug effects*
D011954:Receptors, Dopamine; D010868:Pimozide; D004298:Dopamine