Circling behavior elicited from the pedunculopontine nucleus: evidence for the involvement of hindbrain GABAergic projections

Unilateral microinjection of GABA agonists into the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) of the rat resulted in contraversive postural asymmetry and circling behavior; GABA antagonist caused ipsiversive asymmetry and circling when applied to the PPN. A hemitransection was placed immediately caudal to substania nigra (SN) and rostral to PPN in order to interrupt all connections between the PPN and ipsilateral forebrain nuclei. After hemitransection, microinjection of GABAergic drugs into the PPN on the hemitransected side produced postural asymmetry and circling identical to that observed in intact rats. The hemitransection resulted in a loss of glutamic acid decarboxylase activity in PPN (25%) not substantially greater than that observed in animals with unilateral destruction of SN, indicating that a major proportion of GABA terminals in PPN are derived from hindbrain sources. It appears that forebrain (that is, nigrotegmental) GABAergic projections are not essential for the GABA-mediated asymmetry elicited from PPN.