[14 C]2-Deoxyglucose uptake marks systems activated by rewarding brain stimulation.

Autoradiography of sections from the brains of anesthetized rats injected with [14C] 2-doexyglucose revealed neural systems unilaterally activated by rewarding electrical stimulation of the medial forebrain bundle. Since this new technique marks neural systems on the basis of their activity, it has great potential in functional neuroanatomy. The potential is easily realized in brain-stimulation studies, where systems may be driven to exceptionally high levels of activity.