Effects of intraventricular glutamic acid on the acquisition, performance, and extinction of an operant response, and on general activity.

This study was designed to investigate the effects of intracerebral injections of glutamic acid on acquisition and extinction of a bar-press response, performance of that response, and behavior activity. Nineteen food-deprived rats bearing chronic ventricular cannulae were tested in operant conditioning chambers or in an open field. Just prior to each testing session each animal was injected intraventricularly with 10 mul of either normal or acidified saline solution (control groups), or 10 mul of 100 mMol glutamic acid solution. Acquisition of the bar-pressing response by the glutamic acid group was significantly retarded as compared to the control groups, and the responding of the glutamic acid group was suppressed during the beginning of the first few sessions of testing on a fixed-interval schedule and during extinction. Other behavioral measures, such as operant level, performance of the response on a continuous schedule, performance on fixed-interval and extinction schedules except during the start of the first few sessions, and behavioral activity, were either unaffected or only slightly affected. It is concluded that interference with the normal neurophysiological activity of glutamic acid in the central nervous system interferes with learning and suppresses behavioral output in certain situations.