Neurochemical changes following kainic acid lesions of the nucleus accumbens: implications for a GABAergic accumbal-ventral tegmental pathway.

Unilateral injection of kainic acid into the nucleus accumbens of the rat produced moderate depletions of the GABA synthesising enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase in the accumbens and ventral tegmental area, but failed to alter these parameters in the striatum or substantia nigra. Similar injections into the striatum produced opposite effects to those seen following accumbens injections. These results are consistent with a GABA-ergic accumbal-ventral tegmental pathway analogous to the well defined striatonigral pathway. However, alternative interpretations, possibly in terms of a non-GABAergic accumbal-ventral tegmental pathway modulating GABA interneurons intrinsic to the tegmentum, must be considered.