Locomotor hyperactivity caused by dopamine infusion into the nucleus accumbens of rat brain: specificity of action.

Rats selected as high-activity and low-activity responders to the hyperactivity-inducing action of peripherally administered (-)N-n-propylnorapomorphine [(-)NPA] were subject to intra-accumbens infusion of dopamine, noradrenaline, serotonin, acetylcholine and GABA (0.48 microliters/h, 25 micrograms/24 h, 13 days). Locomotor activity was measured during infusion and for a minimum of 35 days thereafter. After discontinuation of infusion the animals' responsiveness to (-)NPA was also assessed and, on the 2nd day of withdrawal, sensitivity to the hyperactivity-inducing action of acute intra-accumbens dopamine was determined. Dopamine caused a biphasic pattern of hyperactivity during infusion with peaks of responding between days 2-5 and 8-12: normal values returned after withdrawal of infusion. However, 2-3 weeks after withdrawal of intra-accumbens dopamine infusion animals showed reversed responding to (-)NPA challenge, the initial low-active animals giving a high-active response and high-active animals giving low-activity. Infusions of noradrenaline, serotonin, GABA and acetylcholine produced some increase in locomotor activity towards the termination of infusion, but no treatment could replicate the first hyperactivity peak and no treatment, after withdrawal, could reverse the responsiveness to (-)NPA of high- and low-active animals. Acute injections of dopamine into the nucleus accumbens showed that the infusion of the different neurotransmitter substances caused change within that nucleus. Nevertheless, changes in locomotor behaviour following the infusion of dopamine into the nucleus accumbens are specific for dopamine.