Blockage of amphetamine induced motor stimulation and stereotypy in the adult rat following neonatal treatment with 6-hydroxydopamine

I Creese, SD Iversen - Brain research, 1973 - Elsevier
I Creese, SD Iversen
Brain research, 1973Elsevier
Hydroxydopamine was administered intraventricularly to neonatal rats in order to rear adults
with severe catecholamine depletions. The functional integrity of the remaining amine
systems was examined in the adult rats by assessing the behavioural responses to pre-and
postsynaptic pharmacological manipulations. The locomotor stimulation and stereotypy
response to d-amphetamine were blocked in these animals. The dopaminergic receptors in
the striatum were supersensitive, as evidenced by an enhanced stereotypy response to …
Abstract
6-Hydroxydopamine was administered intraventricularly to neonatal rats in order to rear adults with severe catecholamine depletions. The functional integrity of the remaining amine systems was examined in the adult rats by assessing the behavioural responses to pre- and postsynaptic pharmacological manipulations. The locomotor stimulation and stereotypy response tod-amphetamine were blocked in these animals. The dopaminergic receptors in the striatum were supersensitive, as evidenced by an enhanced stereotypy response to apomorphine, suggesting that the blockage of the stereotypy response to amphetamine was presynaptic in origin. Regional, biochemical assay showed that there was an almost complete destruction of the dopaminergic input to the striatum, and a less complete destruction of the forebrain noradrenergic systems. Clonidine stimulated locomotor activity in control rats but not in the 6-OH-DA treated rats further suggesting the probable primacy of dopaminergic systems for the mediation of the locomotor response to amphetamine.
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