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The role of forebrain dopamine systems in amphetamine induced stereotyped behavior in the rat

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Abstract

The caudate nucleus or the tuberculum olfactorium of the rat was lesioned by bilateral stereotaxic injection of 6-hydroxydopamine. The degree of dopamine depletion was assessed by a sensitive regional dopamine assay and revealed severe depletions in the lesioned areas. The locomotor response to a low dose of d-amphetamine was not modified by either lesion. However, the stereotypy response to a high dose of amphetamine was abolished by the caudate lesion. The stereotypy response was not modified by lesion to the tuberculum olfaotorium. Neither lesion abolished the stereotypy response to apomorphine. The results therefore demonstrate that amphetamine is an indirect sympathomimetic agent and further emphasize the critical role of the dopaminergic nigrostriatal pathway in amphetamine induced stereotypy.

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Creese, I., Iversen, S.D. The role of forebrain dopamine systems in amphetamine induced stereotyped behavior in the rat. Psychopharmacologia 39, 345–357 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00422974

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