[Role of the hypothalamus in originating disorders of exploratory behavior and learning in rats with excised nuclei of the locus coeruleus].

Open-field behaviour and emotionally differently reinforced learning were studied in male Wistar rats with bilaterally ablated Locus coeruleus. Histochemical analysis of the hypothalamic structures was carried out. Decrease of investigating activity and attention was found as well as disturbances of learning with emotionally-negative (painful) reinforcement. By means of histochemical methods, fluorescence characteristic for catecholamines was found to decrease sharply in paraventricular and supraoptic hypothalamic nuclei, eminentia medialis and the posterior lobe of the hypophysis.