title: Effects of kainic acid lesions of the striatum on self-stimulation in the substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area.
abstract: Unilateral kainic acid lesions of the dorsal striatum provided evidence for a dissociation of neural substrates of brain-stimulation reward at sites in the ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra. The lesions caused a significant increase in current intensity thresholds at substantia nigra placements, whereas similar lesions had no effect on self-stimulation thresholds at sites in the ventral tegmentum. In addition, the rate-increasing effects of D-amphetamine (0.1-1.0 mg/kg) on self-stimulation were determined before and after lesions to the dorsal striatum. No significant changes in dose-response curves were observed at either loci. Amphetamine-induced rotation was used to confirm damage to the dorsal striatum and lesioned animals were observed to rotate towards the side of the lesion. In contrast, sham-lesioned animals showed turning away from the side stimulated electrically in previous tests. The results of the self-stimulation and rotation experiments are discussed in the context of neural substrates of reward and motor activity.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D003913:Dextroamphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology; D004298:Dopamine / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007608:Kainic Acid / Q000633:toxicity; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012653:Self Stimulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D013239:Stereotyped Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D013681:Tegmentum Mesencephali / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D007608:Kainic Acid; D003913:Dextroamphetamine; D004298:Dopamine