Electrical stimulation of the midbrain tectum enhances dopamine release in the frontal cortex.

GABRIEL CUADRA,; ALEJANDRA ZURITA,; MACEDO , C.E.; MOLINA VICTOR ALEJANDRO; BRANDAO, M.L.

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Año: 2000 vol. 52 p. 413 - 413

ne widely used animal model of anxiety is the electrical stimulation of a given structure supposed to be involved in the neural circuitry underlying emotional behavior. Indeed, electrical stimulation of midbrain structures with substrates for the processing of fear-like responses, such as the dorsal periaqueductal gray matter (DPAG) or the inferior colliculus (IC), produces behavioral, sensorial and autonomic responses very similar to the defense reactions observed in environmental threatening situations. It has also been proposed that the required level of integration of all these components of the defense reaction needs an integrative process situated at higher brain level, as the prefrontal cortex. As a matter of fact, substantial cortical inputs to the midbrain tectum have already been found. In view of this evidence, it seems important to know whether animals stimulated in the midbrain tectum would present neurochemical changes in the prefrontal cortex. To this end, we examined t