Abstract
The effects of blocking putative GABA inhibition on dopamine cells of origin in ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra have been examined in freely moving cats with chronically implanted cannulas and recording electrodes. Instillation of the GABA blocking agent bicuculline in ventral tegmental area induces arousal, searching, slinking, hiding, evidence of fear, catatonic stance, staring and sniffing behaviors which were accompanied by spike activity from nucleus accumbens in several animals. Similar amounts of bicuculline placed in substantia nigra did not induce fear but were followed by ipsilateral grooming, circling and hyperesthesia, with EEG spiking in caudate nucleus and medial and lateral geniculate nuclei in several animals. The relationship of these findings to dopamine induced stereotypies in mesolimbic and nigrostriatal systems and to evidence of dopamine excess or hypersensitivity in limbic striatum in patients with schizophrenic disorders is considered.
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Stevens, J., Wilson, K. & Foote, W. GABA blockade, dopamine and schizophrenia: Experimental studies in the cat. Psychopharmacologia 39, 105–119 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00440842
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00440842