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

Using the open-field and Y-maze behavioral paradigms to assess the novelty-seeking behavior of the male Sprague-Dawley rats that received bilateral electrolytic lesions of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) or sham lesions, we examined the role of the OFC on exploration of the novel environment. In the open-field task, the rats with OFC lesions exhibited the reduced average ambulation distance and average rearing number when compared with the animals with sham lesions. In the meanwhile, the rats with OFC lesions showed the 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.