Source Paper
Dissociation in Effects of Lesions of the Nucleus Accumbens Core and Shell on Appetitive Pavlovian Approach Behavior and the Potentiation of Conditioned Reinforcement and Locomotor Activity byd-Amphetamine
John A. Parkinson, Mary C. Olmstead, Lindsay H. Burns, Trevor W. Robbins, Barry J. Everitt
Journal of Neuroscience • 1999
Locomotor Activity Monitoring
Objective: Measure locomotor activity to assess psychomotor stimulant effects of amphetamine and effects of nucleus accumbens lesions on activity levels
This is a Locomotor Activity Monitoring protocol using rat as the model organism. The procedure involves 6 procedural steps, 1 equipment items, 1 materials. Extracted from a 1999 paper published in Journal of Neuroscience.
Model and subjects
rat • Not specified • Not specified • Not specified • Not specified • Not specified
Study window
Estimated timing pending
Core workflow
Pavlovian conditioning training • Excitotoxic lesion surgery • Post-lesion Pavlovian retraining
Primary readouts
- Locomotor activity levels (baseline and amphetamine-induced)
- Responding on conditioned reinforcer (CR) lever
- Responding on non-reinforced control lever
- Effects of shell lesions on amphetamine-potentiated activity
Key equipment and reagents
Use this page as an execution guide, then fall back to the source paper whenever you need exact exclusions, dosing details, or assay-specific caveats.
Confirm first
- Verify the animal model, intervention setup, and collection timepoints against the source paper.
- Check that every direct vendor link matches the exact specification your lab plans to run.
Use the page like this
- Work through the protocol steps in order and use the inline vendor chips only when you need to source or verify an item.
- Jump to Experimental Context for readouts, data shape, and analysis flow before planning downstream analysis.
Protocol Steps
Start here. The step list is optimized for running the experiment, with direct vendor links available inline when you need to source a cited item.
Pavlovian conditioning training
Rats were initially trained to associate a neutral stimulus (Pavlovian CS) with food reinforcement (US)
Note: Establishes baseline conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus association
View evidence from paper
“Rats were initially trained to associate a neutral stimulus (Pavlovian CS) with food reinforcement (US)”
Excitotoxic lesion surgery
Excitotoxic lesions were performed to selectively destroy either the nucleus accumbens core or shell
Note: Two lesion groups: core-lesioned and shell-lesioned animals
View evidence from paper
“After excitotoxic lesions that selectively destroyed either the NAcc core or shell”
Post-lesion Pavlovian retraining
After lesions, animals underwent additional CS-US training sessions to assess retention and relearning
Note: Evaluates effects of lesions on Pavlovian conditioning
View evidence from paper
“After excitotoxic lesions that selectively destroyed either the NAcc core or shell, animals underwent additional CS–US training sessions”
Instrumental conditioning with conditioned reinforcer
Animals were tested for acquisition of a new instrumental response that produced the CS acting as a conditioned reinforcer
Note: Tests ability to learn new instrumental response with conditioned reinforcer
View evidence from paper
“then were tested for the acquisition of a new instrumental response that produced the CS acting as a conditioned reinforcer (CR)”
Amphetamine infusion and behavioral testing
Animals were infused intra-NAcc with d-amphetamine at doses of 0, 1, 3, 10, or 20 µg before each session during instrumental conditioning
Note: Dose-response study examining amphetamine effects on conditioned reinforcer responding and locomotor activity
View evidence from paper
“Animals were infused intra-NAcc with d-amphetamine (0, 1, 3, 10, or 20 µg) before each session”
Locomotor activity measurement
Locomotor activity was recorded during behavioral sessions to assess psychomotor stimulant effects of amphetamine and effects of lesions
Note: Primary outcome measure for assessing amphetamine-induced hyperactivity and lesion effects on baseline activity
View evidence from paper
“Locomotor activity was measured to assess the psychomotor stimulant effects of amphetamine and the effects of nucleus accumbens lesions”