Differential effects of lesions in the subareas of medial prefrontal cortex on the development of behavioral sensitization to amphetamine: the role of environmental context.

Based on the notion of the heterogeneity of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), the effects of lesions of the dorsal and ventral subareas of mPFC were examined on the development of behavioral sensitization induced by d-amphetamine (AMP). The first part of this study determined behavioral sensitization to AMP by the use of the rat with intermittent repeated AMP administrations in three types of environmental context including an infrared locomotor activity test-box, the home cage, and a novel third place. In experimental groups, each subject was initially injected with AMP of 0.