Electrophysiological and behavioral evidence of interaction of dopaminergic and gustatory afferents in the amygdala.

Electrical stimulation of the pontine parabrachial nucleus (PPN) and the lateral aspect of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) was observed to influence the activity of single neurons in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CNA). For a large proportion of CNA neurons there were convergent inputs from PPN and VTA. Injecting either apomorphine a dopamine agonist or spiroperidol a dopamine antagonist into the CNA significantly increased the consumption of 1.5% NaCl solution with no change of water intake in a two-bottle preference test. There was no change in preference for the hypertonic NaCl solution when a combination of apomorphine and spiroperidol was injected into the CNA. These observations suggest that dopaminergic projections from VTA to CNA may interact with gustatory projections from PPN to influence taste-motivated behavior.