Neuronal activity of the locus ceruleus in awake Macaca arctoides.

Neuronal activity in the locus ceruleus of awake, behaving stump-tailed monkeys increased consistently and vigorously after presentation of mildly aversive and threatening stimuli. These preliminary data increase the range of stimuli reported to elicit locus ceruleus activity in awake monkeys to include nonpainful threat signals and suggest that more studies are needed to be able to categorize locus ceruleus function from its unit activity responses.