Electrical self-stimulation of dentate gyrus granule cells.
Male albino rats implanted with a chronic stimulating electrode electrophysiologically guided into the granule cell layer of the dorsal dentate gyrus were tested in a self-stimulation paradigm. It was found that subjects self-administer electrical stimulation to the granule cells at low, steady rates. Consistent with the presence of opioid-like immunoreactivity in the granule cell mossy fiber pathway, intraperitoneal injection of the opiate antagonist naloxone diminishes granule cell self-stimulation in a dose-related fashion. The results suggest that a granule cell opioid synapse participates in expression of reward at this site.
D000818:Animals; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000502:physiology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011957:Receptors, Opioid / Q000502:physiology; D012653:Self Stimulation / Q000502:physiology*
D011957:Receptors, Opioid