Dopamine increase in the nucleus accumbens of rats exposed to high pressure
- 1 May 1991
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wolters Kluwer Health in NeuroReport
- Vol. 2 (5) , 233-235
- https://doi.org/10.1097/00001756-199105000-00004
Abstract
WHEN human divers and experimental animals are exposed to high pressure, they develop the high pressure neurological syndrome (HPNS) characterized by electroencephalographic changes, sleep and behavioral disturbances. Free-moving rats chronically implanted in the nucleus accumbens with carbon electrodes essentially selective to dopamine (DA) were compressed to 80 bar. Compression was found to lead to a sustained increase in extracellular DA level (+88%), then during the stay and decompression phases, values progressively decreased. These results are discussed in the field of the involvement of the DA meso-limbic pathways in the occurrence of some of the behavioral disturbances of HPNS in rats including hyperlocomotor activity and hoarding behavior.Keywords
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