Brain stimulation in rats exposed to hyperbaric environments

Six rats were trained to make an operant response to receive brief trains of electrical current to the lateral hypothalamus (self-stimulation). All animals were then randomly exposed to pressures of 4.03, 5.51, 7.06, or 10.1 ATA breathing either compressed air or N2-O2 and 13.1 ATA (N2-O2 only). When the subjects breathed air at pressures of 7.06 and 10.1 ATA, rate of self-stimulation decreased by 32 and 43%, respectively. No differences were observed in rate of response at any pressure when the animals breathed N2-O2 with the partial pressure of oxygen maintained at 0.2 ATA. When an oxygen-nitrogen mixture was breathed at 3 ATA in which the PO2 was similar to compressed air at 10.1 ATA, self-stimulation rate was decreased by 40%; this suggests that PO2 is a critical variable influencing behavior mediated by brain stimulation. Results are discussed in terms of the use of self-stimulation as one tool for better understanding the neuronal mechanisms of behavior as they relate to breathing-gas mixtures at increased pressures.