--- abstract: | Introduction: Our aim was to determine if a reduction of serotonin (5-HT) synthesis in the brain would provide any protection from the behavioral alterations induced by hippocampal brain-damage. The development of open-field activity (5 minute sessions) over two weeks and the acquisition of a passive avoidance task were chosen for study. Methods: There were 3 groups of lesioned rats - those hippocampal aspiration lesions, those with only damage to the neocortex overlying the hippocampus, and a sham-operated group. Half of each group was treated 300 mg/kg p-chlorphenylalanine (PCPA) for 3 successive days to deplete levels of 5-HT and the other half were given the saline vehicle alone. [Hippocampal damage is associated with increased activity in the open field and impaired learning of the step-through passive avoidance response.] Results: 1/ Animals with hippocampal damage became hyperactive in the second week after operation. 2/ PCPA treatment had no effect on locomotion, (nor on the frequently observed thigmotaxic nature of the behavior) 3/ Rearing was initially depressed after the operation, and PCPA treatment facilitated its recovery - but PCPA decreased rearing in intact animals during the second week of testing. 4/ Reduced levels of grooming were seen in hippocampal animals, while PCPA reduced grooming in those with neocortical damage 5/ The animals with hippocampal damage were impaired in witholding response in the passive avoidance task - those treated with PCPA performed even worse in not witholding the shock-reinforced step-through response. This contrasted with the intact animals, where PCPA treatment reduced the amount of footshock the animals were exposed to in the task Conclusions: .The results are consistent with a role for mesolimbic 5-HT innervation of the dorsal hippocampus having an influence on novelty-elicited responses (e.g. grooming in home vs. novel cage and investigative rearing behavior) and in modulation of the sensitivity of response to electric footshock (hypersensitive in PCPA-intact animals, hyposensitive in PCPA-hippocampal animals). altloc: - http://www.biopsychology.uni-essen.de/Rat-PCPA-HPC-1977.htm chapter: ~ commentary: ~ commref: ~ confdates: ~ conference: ~ confloc: ~ contact_email: ~ creators_id: [] creators_name: - family: Oades given: R.D. honourific: '' lineage: '' - family: Isaacson given: '' honourific: '' lineage: '' date: 1977 date_type: published datestamp: 2001-05-29 department: ~ dir: disk0/00/00/15/20 edit_lock_since: ~ edit_lock_until: ~ edit_lock_user: ~ editors_id: [] editors_name: [] eprint_status: archive eprintid: 1520 fileinfo: /style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png;/1520/2/rat%2Dpcpa%2D77.pdf full_text_status: public importid: ~ institution: ~ isbn: ~ ispublished: pub issn: ~ item_issues_comment: [] item_issues_count: 0 item_issues_description: [] item_issues_id: [] item_issues_reported_by: [] item_issues_resolved_by: [] item_issues_status: [] item_issues_timestamp: [] item_issues_type: [] keywords: 'serotonin, 5-HT, PCPA, hippocampus, locomotion, rearing, grooming, open-field, passive avoidance, learning, limbic, raphe' lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:54:39 latitude: ~ longitude: ~ metadata_visibility: show note: ~ number: ~ pagerange: 500-506 pubdom: TRUE publication: Behavioral Biology publisher: Academic Press refereed: TRUE referencetext: ~ relation_type: [] relation_uri: [] reportno: ~ rev_number: 10 series: ~ source: ~ status_changed: 2007-09-12 16:38:29 subjects: - behav-neuro-sci - neuro-pharm - psy-bio succeeds: ~ suggestions: ~ sword_depositor: ~ sword_slug: ~ thesistype: ~ title: p-Chlorophenylalanine-produced effects on behavior in intact and brain-damaged rats type: journalp userid: 1054 volume: 20