Dopamine D₂ receptors (D₂Rs) of the ventral pallidum (VP) play important role in motivational and learning processes, however, their potential role in triggering schizophrenic symptoms has not been investigated, yet. In the present experiments the effects of locally administered D₂R agonist quinpirole were investigated on behavioral parameters related to sensorimotor gating, motor activity and food-motivated labyrinth learning. Two weeks after bilateral implantation of microcannulae into the VP, the acute (30 min) and delayed (3, 21 and 24 h) effects of quinpirole microinjection (1 μg/0.4 μL at both sides) were investigated in Wistar and schizophrenia model (Wisket substrain) rats in prepulse inhibition (PPI) and the reward-based Ambitus tests.

Quinpirole administration did not modify the impaired sensorimotor gating in Wisket rats, but it led to significant deficit in Wistar animals. Regarding the locomotor activity in the Ambitus test, no effects of quinpirole were detected in either groups at the investigated time points. In contrast, quinpirole resulted in decreased exploratory and food-collecting activities in Wistar rats with 21 and 24 h delay. Though, impaired food-related motivation could be observed in Wisket rats, but quinpirole treatment did not result in further deterioration.

In summary, our results showed that the VP D₂R activation in Wistar rats induces symptoms similar to those observed in schizophrenia model Wisket rats. These data suggest that Wisket rats might have significant alterations in the functional activity of VP, which might be due to its enhanced dopaminergic activity.

腹侧苍白球 (VP) 的多巴胺 D ₂受体 (D ₂ Rs) 在动机和学习过程中发挥重要作用，然而，尚未研究它们在引发精神分裂症症状方面的潜在作用。在本实验中，研究了局部给药的 D ₂ R 激动剂喹吡罗对与感觉运动门控、运动活动和食物驱动的迷宫学习相关的行为参数的影响。双侧微插管植入 VP 两周后，在 Wistar 和精神分裂症模型（Wisket substrain) 大鼠的前脉冲抑制 (PPI) 和基于奖励的 Ambitus 测试。

Quinpirole 给药并没有改变 Wisket 大鼠受损的感觉运动门控，但它导致 Wistar 动物的显着缺陷。关于 Ambitus 测试中的运动活性，在调查的时间点，两组均未检测到喹吡罗的影响。相比之下，喹吡罗导致 Wistar 大鼠的探索和食物收集活动减少，延迟 21 和 24 小时。虽然在 Wisket 大鼠中可以观察到与食物相关的动机受损，但喹吡罗治疗并未导致进一步恶化。

总之，我们的结果表明，Wistar 大鼠中的 VP D ₂ R 激活诱导的症状与在精神分裂症模型 Wisket 大鼠中观察到的症状相似。这些数据表明 Wisket 大鼠的 VP 功能活性可能发生显着变化，这可能是由于其多巴胺能活性增强。