We have examined the relationships between catecholamine systems in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and subcortical areas, notably the nucleus accumbens and corpus straitum. Our work suggests that chemical lesioning of efferents from the prefrontal cortex to subcortical areas does not markedly alter behaviors such as sterotypy and locomotion, believed to be mediated by dopamine systems in the latter. Along with other work, this suggests that dopamine afferents to prefrontal cortex play a unique role in modulating subcortical dopamine systems.
