Dopamine increase in the nucleus accumbens of rats exposed to high pressure

When human divers and experimental animals are exposed to high pressure, they develop the high pressure neurological syndrome (HPNS) characterized by electroencephalographic changes, sleep and behavioral disturbances. Free-moving rats chronically implanted in the nucleus accumbens with carbon electrodes essentially selective to dopamine (DA) were compressed to 80 bar. Compression was found to lead to a sustained increase in extracellular DA level (+88%), then during the stay and decompression phases, values progressively decreased. These results are discussed in the field of the involvement of the DA meso-limbic pathways in the occurrence of some of the behavioral disturbances of HPNS in rats including hyperlocomotor activity and hoarding behavior.