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Effects of various inhibitors of tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine beta-hydroxylase on rat self-stimulation after reserpine treatment

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Abstract

The behavioral effects of low doses of the catecholamine (CA) synthesis inhibitor, α-methyl-p-tyrosine (α-MPT, 50 mg/kg i.p.), or the norepinephrine (NE) synthesis inhibitors (FLA-63, 15 mg/kg i.p., U-14624, 50 mg/kg i.p., or disulfiram, 150 mg/kg i.p.) were studied in rats pretreated with reserpine (1 mg/kg i.p.) 24 h before. Rats were implanted either in the area ventralis tegmenti (AVT) or in the lateral hypothalamus (LH). The modifications of CA synthesis and endogenous CA levels were estimated in a parallel experiment. Reserpine treatment produced a slow decrease in self-stimulation (SS) rates during the first 12 h; SS rates were 85% of control values 24 h after reserpine treatment. Injection of α-MPT in reserpine-pretreated rats inhibited SS (85% decrease 3 h after administration either in AVT or LH rats), whereas dopamine Β-hydroxylase inhibition had no great effect on SS. The administration of very low doses of α-MPT (20 mg/kg i.p.) to rats treated with reserpine (24 h before) plus FLA-63 (1 h before) induced an important decrease in SS rates in AVT-implanted rats only. The major conclusion is that dopaminergic neurons seem to be involved in AVT and LH SS. The last experiment suggests the involvement of a balance between dopaminergic and noradrenergic neurons in AVT SS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Psychophysiologie, Institut de Biologie Animale, Université de Bordeaux 1, Talence, France

    L. Stinus, A. M. Thierry & B. Cardo

  2. Laboratoire de Neurophysiologie, Collège de France, 11, place M. Berthelot, F-75 005, Paris, France

    A. M. Thierry

Authors
  1. L. Stinus
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  2. A. M. Thierry
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  3. B. Cardo
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Additional information

This investigation was supported by a Grant from the C.N.R.S. (E.R.A. No. 416).

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Stinus, L., Thierry, A.M. & Cardo, B. Effects of various inhibitors of tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine beta-hydroxylase on rat self-stimulation after reserpine treatment. Psychopharmacologia 45, 287–294 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00421142

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00421142

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