Suction lesions of the frontal cerebral cortex in the rat induce asymmetrical behavioral and catecholaminergic responses

Suction lesions of the right frontal cerebral cortex in rats induce a period of spontaneous hyperactivity. This hyperactivity, as measured by an increase in running wheel activity begins about one week post-operatively and continues throughout the remainder of a 30-day observation period. The increased activity is accompanied by a bilateral decrease in norepinephrine concentrations in both the ipsilateral and contralateral cortex and locus coeruleus. Identical lesions of the left frontal cerebral cortex produce neither the hyperactivity nor a decrease in norepinephrine concentrations. These experiments have reproduced many of the behavioral and biochemical asymmetries seen after middle cerebral artery ligation; however, suction lesions are both simpler to produce and histologically less variable in their effects.