Interhemispheric relationship between lateral hypothalamic self-stimulation and the region of the nucleus tegmenti...

Electrical self-stimulation in the lateral hypothalamus was recorded in both hemispheres of 20 rats before and after making a lesion either by unilateral radiofrequency stimulation or by injection of N-methyl-D,L-aspartate into the region of the peduncular-pontine nucleus. For the animals which received the radiofrequency lesion, a rate-intensity function was established for 3 stimulation intensities 3 days before and 5 days after the lesion. For the animals in which N-methyl-D,L-aspartate was injected, a reinforcement threshold was measured 3 days before and after the lesion using a psychophysical method-of-limits procedure. With the rate-intensity procedure a decrease in the rate of self-stimulation was observed at the highest stimulation intensity through the electrode situated contralateral to the side of the lesion. Similarly, with the reinforcement threshold method, a significant increase in threshold was found from the electrode placed in the hemisphere contralateral but not ipsilateral to the site of the lesion. These data suggest an involvement of primarily crossed pathways coursing to or from the peduncular-pontine nucleus as being involved in the control of lateral hypothalamic self-stimulation.