Injections of -amphetamine into the ventral pallidum increase locomotor activity and responding for conditioned reward: a comparison with injections into the nucleus accumbens

The nucleus accumbens and ventral pallidum receive dopamine (DA) projections from the mesencephalon. Although DA inputs to the nucleus accumbens are implicated in both locomotion and reward processes, little is known of the behavioural significance of DA in the ventral pallidum. These studies examined the effects of -amphetamine injected into the nucleus accumbens or ventral pallidum on locomotor activity and responding for a conditioned reward (CR). In the nucleus accumbens -amphetamine dose dependently (1, 3 and 10 μg) increased locomotion within 5–10 min of injection. Intra-ventral pallidum microinjections of -amphetamine also increased activity in this dose range, but the effect occurred with a longer latency (5–20 min). The magnitude of the response evoked by ventral pallidum injections was lower than that evoked by nucleus accumbens injections. The GABA_A antagonist picrotoxin (0.1 μg) stimulated activity when injected into the ventral pallidum but not the nucleus accumbens, providing a pharmacological dissociation between the two injection sites. In the CR studies, -amphetamine injected into both sites potentiated responding for a CR previously paired with food delivery, without altering responding on an inactive lever. Picrotoxin injected into the ventral pallidum reduced responding and abolished the selectivity of responding for CR. The results show that DA release in the ventral pallidum enhances locomotion and responding for a CR, providing evidence that DA in the ventral pallidum plays a significant role in the mediation of the effects of -amphetamine. The failure of picrotoxin to elevate responding for CR despite increasing locomotor activity indicates that pharmacologically-induced blockade of GABA_A receptors in the ventral pallidum disrupts goal-directed responding.