Abstract
To ascertain the nature of intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) interactions between locus coeruleus (LC) and various hypothalamic (HYP) sites, rats were tested with monophasic pulse pair stimulation. When trains of pulse pairs were delivered to a single ICSS site, lower responding occurred at short pulse-pair intervals. However, when the pulses of each pulse pair were split between LC and HYP ICSS sites, response rates at all pulse-pair intervals were elevated well above single-pulse responding, indicating a neurophysiological interaction between these loci. The symmetry of LC and HYP interactions depended upon the HYP electrode placement. Both internal capsule and fields of Forel placements produced asymmetrical LC-HYP interactions in which higher ICSS rates occurred when the LC received the first pulse of each pair than when it received the second pulse of each pair, suggesting a direct, and possibly modulating, influence of the LC upon these HYP placements. Both medial forebrain bundle and perifornical HYP placements produced symmetrical LC-HYP interactions in which similar ICSS rates occurred regardless of site stimulation order, suggesting an indirect, reciprocal influence between the LC and these HYP placements.
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Data collection and analysis was supported by a CCNY Faculty Research Award to S.J.E. and a NIDA Grant to S.S.S. Manuscript preparation was supported by N.Y.S. Health Research Council Grant 922 to R.J.B. We thank M. Brutus, J. Healey, P.M. Ippolito, and W.T. Nelson for invaluable technical assistance.
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Bodnar, R.J., Ellman, S.J., Coons, E.E. et al. Differential locus coeruleus and hypothalamic self-stimulation interactions. Psychobiology 7, 269–277 (1979). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03326639
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03326639