Amphetamine administration into the ventral striatum facilitates behavioral interaction with unconditioned visual signals in rats.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Administration of psychomotor stimulants like amphetamine facilitates behavior in the presence of incentive distal stimuli, which have acquired the motivational properties of primary rewards through associative learning. This facilitation appears to be mediated by the mesolimbic dopamine system, which may also be involved in facilitating behavior in the presence of distal stimuli that have not been previously paired with primary rewards. However, it is unclear whether psychomotor stimulants facilitate behavioral interaction with unconditioned distal stimuli.

Principal findings

We found that noncontingent administration of amphetamine into subregions of the rat ventral striatum, particularly in the vicinity of the medial olfactory tubercle, facilitates lever pressi

SUBMITTER: Shin R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2806927 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature