Abstract
The prefrontal cortex of the rat consists of two subareas, a medial and an orbitofrontal. The anatomical dissociation is accompanied by a functional dissociation. In this study the behavioral effects of two manipulations of the orbitofrontal cortex were investigated. Social-agonistic behavior of male rats of the Long Evans strain was observed in dyadic interactions. Bilateral thermal lesions of the orbitofrontal cortex resulted in an enhancement of aggression (experiment 1), evident from higher scores for lateral threat and keeping down. The prefrontal cortex is one of the very few cortical areas to receive a dopaminergic innervation. When dopamine was depleted by means of local infusion of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) in the orbitofrontal cortex, similar behavioral changes were recorded (experiment 2). These findings are indicative of the important role of the mesocortical dopaminergic pathway in the regulation of social-agonistic behavior.
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