Facilitatory action of diazepam and chlordiazepoxide on hypothalamic reward behavior.

Abstract

Chlordiazepoxide and diazepam, in midrange doses, increased the rate at which rats pressed a pedal for electrical shock in posterior hypothalamus. With probes in anterior hypothalamus, chlordiazepoxide caused decreases, and diazepam caused some increases and some de- creases. Tested on escape behavior caused by electric shock in a tectal-tegmental boundary area, midrange doses of diazepam were more effective than high doses of alcohol in decreasing escape behavior; chlor-diazepoxide had little or no effect. Facilitatory action of these 2 mild tranquilizers on approach behavior evoked by stimulation in posterior hypothalamus was thus not accounted for by their action on escpae behavior evoked by electrical stimulation in midbrain.