Effects of lateral habenular lesions on local cerebral glucose utilization in the rat

The autoradiographic 2-[14C]deoxyglucose method was employed to map the distribution of the changes in local cerebral glucose utilization following unilateral and bilateral electrolytic lesions of the lateral habenula nucleus. Local cerebral glucose utilization was measured one week after the placement of the lesions. Unilateral lesions of the nucleus had no effect on the rates of glucose utilization in the 79 brain structures examined. Bilateral lesions, however, produced selective reductions in glucose utilization in several structures compared to the results in sham-operated animals. Reductions were found in the dorsal and median raphe nuclei and the ventral and dorsal tegmental nuclei which receive projecting fibers mainly from the medial part of the lateral habenula nucleus. The rates of glucose metabolism in the interpeduncular nucleus and mamillary body were also reduced by the bilateral habenular lesions. No anatomic structures rostral to the lesions were metabolically affected.