The anterior cingulate cortex and stress: effects of chlordiazepoxide on unit-activity and stimulation-induced...

Multiple unit-activity in the anterior cingulate cortex of rats indicated that during immobilization-stress some units increased responding, and others decreased their response rates. Changes in unit-behavior were also found when a stimulus was presented that previously had been paired with the restraint treatment. Pretreatment with chlordiazepoxide prevented the stress-induced increases in unit-activity, whereas, suppressed units were not affected by the drug treatment. Injections of chlordiazepoxide also attenuated the gastric pathology which was found following low-level electrical stimulation of the area of the units which had been identified to respond to restraint-stress.