Article date: 1989/9/11
PubMed ID: 2812519
Journal name: Neuroscience letters (ISSN: 0304-3940)
ABSTRACT
In the present study it was investigated whether muscular rigidity elicited from the nucleus accumbens could be transmitted via the substantia innominata/ventral pallidum (SI/VP) complex. For this purpose rats were equipped with cannulae aimed at the nucleus accumbens and/or the SI/VP, and with electrodes in the triceps muscle of the forelimb. In the first set of experiments it was found that the GABA agonist muscimol (10-25 ng/0.5 microliters) dose-dependently increased tonic EMG activity upon injection into the SI/VP region. The GABA antagonist bicuculline (50 ng/0.5 microliters) antagonized the effects of muscimol (25 ng/0.5 microliters). In the second set of experiments it appeared that the increase in tonic EMG activity induced by haloperidol (1000 ng/0.5 microliters) injected into the nucleus accumbens was antagonized by subsequent injection of bicuculline (25 ng/0.5 microliters) into the SI/VP complex. These data suggest that the SI/VP complex may be one station through which the muscular rigidity elicited from the nucleus accumbens is transmitted to lower brain structures.
Author List: van den Bos R, Cools A R
Publication Types: Comparative Study; Journal Article
Substances mentioned in the article: Muscimol; Haloperidol; Bicuculline;
Mesh terms: Animals; Basal Ganglia/physiology; Bicuculline/pharmacology; Electrodes; Electromyography; Forelimb; Haloperidol/pharmacology; Injections; Male; Muscimol/pharmacology; Muscle Rigidity/etiology; Nucleus Accumbens/physiology; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Septal Nuclei/physiology; Substantia Innominata/physiology;