Lesions to the Orbitofrontal Cortex Produce the Novelty-Seeking Behavior Deficits in Rats

We examined the role of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) on exploration of the novel environment using the open-field and Y-maze behavioral paradigms to assess the novelty-seeking behavior of the male Sprague-Dawley rats after receiving bilateral electrolytic lesions of the OFC or sham lesions. In the open-field task, the rats with OFC lesions exhibited reduced average ambulation distance and average rearing number when compared with the animals with sham lesions. Moreover, rats with OFC lesions showed less duration of visits and number of entries in the novel arm in the Y-maze task than the control animals. The current findings suggest that the OFC plays an important role on the novelty-seeking behavior in rats.

Keywords
Orbitofrontal cortex; Electrolytic lesions; Novelty-seeking; Open-field; Y-maze; Rat