EFFECTS OF d‐ AND l‐AMPHETAMINE ON LOCAL CEREBRAL GLUCOSE UTILIZATION IN THE CONSCIOUS RAT 1

Amphetamine, a potent sympathomimetic amine, has powerful stimulant actions in the central nervous system. These actions are believed to be related to the influence of amphetamine on release and uptake of catecholamine neurotransmitters. The [14C]deoxyglucose method makes it possible to study changes in cerebral metabolic rate in different areas of gray and white matter. Because of the close relationship between metabolic rate and functional activity, this method may be used to identify specific structures in the brain in which functional activity is altered. The [14C]deoxyglucose method was used to explore for changes in metabolic rate produced by d‐and l‐amphetamine (5 mg/kg) in forty gray and four white matter structures in normal conscious rats. d‐Amphetamine produced increases in local cerebral glucose utilization in a number of components of the extrapyramidal motor system, as well as in some other structures known to contain dopamine‐producing and/or dopaminoceptive cells. The largest increases after d‐amphetamine administration occurred in the subthalamic nucleus and the zona reticulata of the substantia nigra. l‐Amphetamine produced increases in some but not all of these same structures, and these were generally smaller than those observed with d‐amphetamine. Decreases in local cerebral glucose utilization after either d‐ or l‐amphetamine administration were found in the habenula and the suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus. The effects in the suprachiasmatic nuclei may reflect their normal diurnal rhythm in metabolic rate. These results indicate that amphetamines may influence behavior through effects on specific regions of the brain. Only some of these regions have previously been studied as possible sites of action of amphetamine.