title: Preferential localization of self-stimulation sites in striosomes/patches in the rat striatum.
abstract: Histological sections of the mammalian striatum reveal a "matrix" that is histochemically distinguishable from patches, or "striosomes". The latter are cross sections of a compartment that consists primarily of tube-shaped structures radiating through the matrix. As a test of the hypothesis that the function of the striosome/patch compartment includes the mediation of behaviors related to reward, the present study examined electrical self-stimulation of the caudoputamen in rats with electrodes in either of the two compartments. Rats acquired and maintained bar-pressing responses that were contingent on stimulation through electrodes making contact with striosomes/patches more reliably than animals with electrodes terminating exclusively in the matrix. The results provide in vivo evidence that the striosome/patch compartment is functionally differentiated from the matrix compartment: Stimulation centered in or around the striosome/patch compartment but not in the matrix led to rapid acquisition of a new behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, McGill University, 1205 Dr. Penfield Avenue, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 1B1. nwhite@psych.mcgill.ca
authors.forename: N M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hiroi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D004594:Electrophysiology; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats