Infralimbic cortex activation and motivated arousal induce histamine release

Appetitive behaviours occur in a state of behavioural and physiological activation that allows the optimal performance of these goal-directed behaviours. Here, we tested the hypothesis that histamine neurons under the command of the infralimbic cortex are important to provide behavioural activation. Extracellular histamine and serotonin were measured by microdialysis of the medial prefrontal cortex in behaving rats in parallel with a picrotoxin microinjection into the infralimbic cortex. The injection aroused the rats behaviourally, increased histamine release and decreased serotonin levels. Inhibition of the infralimbic cortex with muscimol produced the opposite effects on neurotransmitter release. The behavioural activation induced by motivating hungry rats with caged food was paralleled by an immediate histamine release, whereas awakening induced by tapping their microdialysis bowl increased serotonin, but not histamine levels. In conclusion, picrotoxin injection into the infralimbic cortex produces behavioural activation together with histamine release; in a similar manner, induction of an appetitive state produced histamine release, likely related to increased behavioural activation characteristic of an appetitive behaviour.