Abstract
An attempt was made to correlate behavioral changes in the male rat following an intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection ofα-melanotropin (α-MSH, 10μg) with biochemical estimates of the activities of nigrostriatal, mesolimbic, tuberoinfundibular and tuberohypophyseal dopaminergic neurons. ICV injection ofα-MSH elicited body snaking, stretching, yawning and penile erections. The concentrations of dopamine (DA) and dihydroxyphenylacetic acid and the rate of DA synthesis (accumulation of DOPA after the inhibition of DOPA decarboxylase) in the striatum, nucleus accumbens, olfactory tubercle, septum, median eminence and posterior pituitary were unaltered at any time (30–180 min) after ICV injection ofα-MSH. Intraperitoneal injection ofα-MSH (100μg/kg) also failed to change the rate of DOPA accumulation in these brain regions. These results imply that the behaviors observed afterα-MSH are not associated with changes in the activity of DA neurons.
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