This paper summarizes some behavioral and neurochemical data relating to the delayed effect oflocus coeruleus stimulation on the learning capabilities ofthe rat. The first observation showed that electrical stimulation of the locus coeruleus of a 15-day-old rat improved the acquisition and extinction of a food-reinforced operant task performed 4 weeks later. The neurochemical lesion of the dorsal noradrenergic bundle, 10 days before the stimulation, did not decrease the behavioral effect, whereas the neurochemical lesion of the locus coeruleus proper suppressed the improvement. Furthermore, we studied the long-term effect of the stimulation on some biochemical parameters of the coerulean system: First, the turnover of noradrenaline increased in the locus coeruleus 4 days after the stimulation, whereas it decreased 4 weeks after the treatment in the nucleus proper and in the hippocampus. Second, 4 weeks after the stimulation, the characteristics of some adrenoceptor populations were significantly changed, in particular regions of the brain. The number of al"adrenoceptors was increased in the cortex, the hippocampus, and particularly the hypothalamus. The number of al-adrenoceptors was increased in the cortex. Neither the number nor the affinity of {3 receptors was altered by the stimulation. Likewise, the number of al-, a,-, and {3-adrenoceptors in the brainstem was not changed. These results are discussed. To explain our behavioral data, we assume that the performance improvement in prestimulated rats is due, for the most part, to a reduced reaction to stressful situations. On this basis, the stressreduction hypothesis is tentatively related to the binding data showing that the most significant increase of the a2-receptors was observed in the hypothalamus.In previous studies, we showed that electrical stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus of 15-day-old rats significantly enhanced the learning of various tasks examined 4 weeks later. We first demonstrated that this stimulation improved the acquisition and extinction of a foodreinforced task (Velley & Cardo, 1977). In subsequent experiments, we observed the same effect on the acquisition and reversal of a light-dark discrimination, whether appetitively or aversively reinforced, as well as on the acquisition of a one-way avoidance task (Velley, Chassaing, & Cardo, 1981).