Amphetamine enhancement of reward asymmetry (original) (raw)

Abstract

Rats with bilaterally implanted lateral hypothalamic electrodes were tested daily for self-stimulation to each side of the brain; rotation (circling behavior) was recorded concomitantly. All rats rotated in a perferred direction regardless of the side of the brain stimulated and all rats had asymmetries in self-stimulation sensitivity (threshold and rate-intensity functions) related to the direction of rotation. Amphetamine both enhanced rotation and potentiated the asymmetry in self-stimulation sensitivity. Subsequently rats were tested in a choice procedure providing concurrent access to rewarding stimulation of either side of the brain; currents were titrated such that, under baseline conditions, rats continually alternated between self-stimulating one side of the brain or the other. Amphetamine induced a robust preference for stimulation to the more sensitive side of the brain (the side having a lower thereshold). The results are discussed in relation to mechanisms of drug reinforcement and to biological etiologies of schizophrenia. It is proposed that schizophrenia results from a lateralized overactivity of dopaminergic neuronal systems mediating reward and that amphetamine mimics schizophrenic symptomatology by enhancing lateralization of the same systems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, City University of New York, 1 Gustave L. Levy Place, 10029, New York, New York, USA
    Stanley D. Glick, Linda M. Weaver & Richard C. Meibach

Authors

  1. Stanley D. Glick
  2. Linda M. Weaver
  3. Richard C. Meibach

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Glick, S.D., Weaver, L.M. & Meibach, R.C. Amphetamine enhancement of reward asymmetry.Psychopharmacology 73, 323–327 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00426459

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