Effects of dopaminergic drugs on locomotor activity in teleost fish of the genus Oreochromis (Cichlidae): involvement of the telencephalon.

Single Oreochromis niloticus and O. mossambicus were placed in an unfamiliar white basin for 21 min, and their activity in this open-field situation was recorded from overhead on video. Apomorphine added to the water (2-8 mg/liter) caused a significant increase in locomotor activity, as assessed by the frequency that a fish swam over a rectilinear array of lines drawn on the base. This effect was attenuated by chlorpromazine (2 mg/liter) and abolished by the D1 antagonist SCH-23390 (1 mg/liter); the D2 antagonist metoclopramide (8 mg/liter) had no effect. Removal of both hemispheres of the telencephalon abolished the response to apomorphine, whereas removal of only one hemisphere or cauterization of the nostrils had no effect. It is concluded that the role of the dopaminergic system in the regulation of locomotor activity is reminiscent of the mammalian mesolimbic, rather than the nigrostriatal, system but that further studies are required to determine the source of the dopaminergic innervation and its likely telencephalic targets.