Repeated administration of high doses of amphetamine increases release of ascorbic acid in caudate but not nucleus accumbens

Linear sweep voltammetry with carbon paste electrodes was used to monitor extracellular ascorbic acid (AA) in the caudate nucleus and nucleus accumbens of behaving rats. Amphetamine (2 or 5 mg/kg) was administered 4, 6 and 8 days after surgery. In general the amphetamine-induced increase in AA was greater in the caudate than in the nucleus accumbens. Furthermore, in the nucleus accumbens the amphetamine-induced increase in AA was very similar on all test days, but in the caudate the increase in AA produced by 5 mg/kg amphetamine was progressively larger on each test day. Thus AA seems to be regulated differently in the caudate and nucleus accumbens.