Abstract
When rats with lateral hypothalamic lesions are pretreated with alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine (AMPT) serious behavioral impairment can be avoided. It has been suggested that the rapid behavioral recovery is due to an AMPT-induced supersensitivity of catecholamine receptors. This experiment attempted to test an alternative hypothesis which suggests that the reduction of monoamine accumulation by AMPT could also account for the shortened period of reduced food and water intake. Eight μg/μl concentrations of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) were injected into the lateral hypothalamus (LH) in order to achieve a more specific depletion of catecholamines and to produce monoamine accumulation. The behavioral deficits displayed in animals pretreated with AMPT were not significantly different from those occurring in rats pretreated with saline. Although histochemical evaluation revealed that the levels of monoamine accumulation were unaffected by the AMPT pretreatment, there was a direct relationship between the severity of behavioral deficit and the volume and intensity of monoamine accumulation. Depletion of the nigro-striatal dopamine system was in no way related to the severity of behavioral impairment. From this work it seems unlikely that post-synaptic supersensitivity to catecholamines can account for the return of behavior after hypothalamic damage.
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