Influence of the entorhinal cortex on accumbal and striatal dopaminergic responses in a latent inhibition paradigm

The use of latent inhibition paradigms is one means of investigating the involvement of mesencephalic dopaminergic (DA) neurons in cognitive processes. We have shown recently that DA neurons reaching the core and the dorsomedial shell parts of the nucleus accumbens and the anterior part of the striatum are differentially involved in latent inhibition. In other respects, theoretical, behavioral and anatomo-functional data suggest that the entorhinal cortex (ENT) may control latent inhibition expression. In this study, using in vivo voltammetry in freely moving rats, we investigated the influence of the ENT on the DA responses obtained in the core and dorsomedial shell parts of the nucleus accumbens and the anterior part of the striatum. For this purpose a reversible inactivation of the left ENT was achieved by the local microinjection of tetrodotoxin, 3 h before pre-exposure to the conditional stimulus (banana odour). During the second session, animals were aversively conditioned to banana odour. Results obtained during the third session (test session), in animals submitted to the reversible blockade of the ENT before the first session were as follows: (1) pre-exposed conditioned animals displayed behavioral aversive responses; (2) where core DA responses were concerned, responses were situated between those observed in pre-exposed and non-pre-exposed conditioned animals; (3) by contrast, where the dorsomedial shell part of the nucleus accumbens and the anterior striatum were concerned, DA variations were not statistically different in pre-exposed and non-pre-exposed conditioned rats. These data suggest that the left ENT exerts a crucial influence over the latent-inhibition-related DA responses in the left dorsomedial shell part of the nucleus accumbens and the left anterior part of the striatum, whereas one or more other brain regions control DA variations in the left core part of the nucleus accumbens. These data may help us to understand the pathophysiology of schizophrenic psychoses.