Prepulse inhibition and latent inhibition: the role of dopamine in the medial prefrontal cortex
Section snippets
Animals and surgery
Male Wistar rats (bred at the Central Animal Laboratory of the University of Nijmegen), weighing 180–200 g at the time of the operation, were used. Rats were stereotaxically implanted with guide cannulae aimed at the prelimbic part of the prefrontal cortex, under sodium pentobarbital anaesthesia (Narcoved®, 60 mg/kg i.p.). In a recent c-Fos study (Ellenbroek et al., unpublished observations), we have found that especially this part of the prefrontal cortex is involved in prepulse inhibition.
Injection sites
Almost all of the rats had injections situated within the boundaries of the Cingulate Cortex Area 3 as delineated by Paxinos and Watson.[28]The area in which the injections were localized is shown in Fig. 1. The data of rats with injection sites outside this area (n = 2) were discarded from the analysis.
Prepulse inhibition
The local application of dl-sulpiride or SCH 39166 into the medial prefrontal cortex did not affect basal startle reactivity (Fig. 2A) nor habituation (measured as the ratio of the last five over
Discussion
The present results show that blockade of dopamine receptors within the medial prefrontal cortex (especially the prelimbic area or the Cingulate Cortex Area 3 as described by Paxinos and Watson[28]) significantly reduced prepulse inhibition, whereas it had no effect on the degree of latent inhibition as measured with the conditioned taste aversion paradigm. Before discussing the relevance of these data, it is important to realize the possible effects of the stereotaxic operation or the
Conclusion
The present study shows that local application of SCH 39166 (a selective antagonist of the dopamine D1-like receptor family) and of dl-sulpiride (a selective antagonist of the dopamine D2-like receptor family) into the medial prefrontal cortex reduced prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response. Neither treatment, however, affected latent inhibition of the conditioned taste aversion paradigm. These results add further support to the hypothesis that these aspects of information
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