Abstract
The development and degree of supersensitivity to the locomotor stimulant effect of apomorphine were studied in rats which had been rendered hypokinetic by bilateral injections of 6-hydroxydopamine into the anterolateral hypothalamus. Up to 2 days after surgery the effect of apomorphine was comparable in lesioned and normal rats, indicating that dopaminergic supersensitivity did not develop over this short period. As the duration between the 6-hydroxydopamine injections and time of testing with apomorphine increased, the animals became progressively more sensitive to the stimulant effects of apomorphine. Pretreatment with butaclamol reduced the effect of apomorphine in a dose-dependent manner. A high dose of clozapine also antagonized the effect of apomorphine, but a low dose potentiated it. No inhibition was observed following administration of the α-adrenergic antagonist, phenoxybenzamine, or the β-adrenergic antagonist, propranolol. The 5HT antagonist methysergide and the anticholinergic drug, scopolamine potentiated the effects of apomorphine. These studies suggest that the apomorphine-induced ambulation in hypokinetic rats is primarily mediated through dopaminergic mechanisms but both serotonergic and cholinergic mechanisms exert modulating influences.
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Voith, K. Supersensitivity to apomorphine in experimentally induced hypokinesia and drug-induced modifications of the apomorphine response. Psychopharmacology 70, 247–254 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00427881
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00427881