By means of the double probe preparation, we demonstrated that the NA increase produced by LC electrical stimulation is elicited both in the mPFC and caudate nucleus, while DA increase is present in the mPFC but not in the caudate nucleus. Furthermore, when stimulating electrodes were placed outside the LC, no catecholamine increase was observed. Together, these data indicate that DA increase is not due to dopaminergic neuron activation by current spread. Moreover they exclude the possibility that the DA increase observed in the cerebral cortex is due to direct or indirect stimulation of dopaminergic neurons by NA; on the contrary, the DA decrease observed in the caudate nucleus during prolonged stimulation is consistent with an inhibitory action of NA on DA neurons, as already suggested [30,31]. Such an inhibitory action might contribute to explain why DA elevation in the mPFC was of shorter duration than in the occipital cortex: it might suggest that DA released from noradrenergic terminals was compensated in the mPFC by a reduced DA release from dopaminergic terminals. Indeed, in the caudate nucleus multiple stimulation evidenced a decrease in DA levels.