Microinjections of serotonin and glutamic acid into the globus pallidus in conditions of free selection between a light and a dark chamber showed these substances to have antiaversive activity in rats in the "threatening situation" test but not in the "illuminated area" test. Local administration of dopamine and GABA into this basal ganglia formation had no effect on the mechanisms of voluntary movement but countered anxiety states in both behavioral models. These results provide evidence that the neurotransmitter systems of the dorsal pallidum have different degrees of involvement in the operative control of behavior when the modality of the aversive stimulus changes.

In experiments on rats using an "illuminated area" avoidance test and a "threatening situation" avoidance test, preliminary i.p. administration and subsequent microinjection into the ventromedial hypothalamus of various combinations of monoamines, transmitter amino acids, and their agonists and antagonists demonstrated differences in the functional importance of the neurochemical profile of this limbic formation in mediating anxiety states of different origins. The neurochemical analysis with local intrahypothalamic administration of anxiosedative and anxioselective substances showed that the antiaversive actions of Campirone are obtained only in conditions in which the dominant motivation is fear, while chlordiazepoxide, Phenibut, and Indoter are also active in anxiety induced by negatively stressful zoosocial influences; these actions are mediated respectively by serotoninergic and GABAergic types of synaptic switching in the ventromedial hypothalamus.

Microinjections of glutamic acid, serotonin, and sulpiride in the ventromedial hypothalamus reduced anxiety in an illuminated platform avoidance task in rats, while dopamine, apomorphine, picrotoxin, and memantine increased it. Similar injections of phenylephrine and yohimbine reduced anxiety in threatening situation task only, while GABA reduced it in both tasks. It is suggested that various emotional and stress phenotypes are realized through functionally different neurochemical mechanisms of ventromedial hypothalamus.