Effects of dorsal and ventral hippocampal lesions on open-field defecation of rats were investigated. Based on presurgical testing, matched groups from both sexes were either lesioned or sham-operated. Compared to respective presurgical scores the postsurgical defecation score decreased significantly in the sham-operated group but remained the same in the hippocampally lesioned group. Results were discussed in terms of habituation and the inverted-U arousal function.
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