Time course analysis of para-chlorophenylalanine induced suppression of self-stimulation behavior.
The hypothesis of a serotonergic basis of reward rests partly on data showing that serotonin (5-HT) depletion by para-chlorophenylalanine (p-CPA) causes depression of self-stimulation (SS) rates. These data do not clearly demonstrate a time course relationship between 5-HT depletion and SS suppression. The present study shows that SS behavior has fully recovered from p-CPA induced suppression when 5-HT levels are still maximally depleted. The data reveal that the effects of electrical brain SS on p-CPA induced reductions of 5-HT cannot explain the temporal dissociation between 5-HT depletion and SS suppression. As a whole the data suggest that midbrain 5-HT neurons are not critically involved in SS behavior.
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D010134:Fenclonine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D007700:Kinetics; D008297:Male; D011903:Raphe Nuclei / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012653:Self Stimulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism
D012701:Serotonin; D010134:Fenclonine