Nigral transplants reinnervating the dopamine-depleted neostriatum can sustain intracranial self-stimulation.
Transplants of embryonic substantia nigra reinnervated the striatum and were able to sustain intracranial self-stimulation in rats with brain lesions induced by 6-hydroxydopamine. Dopaminergic drugs and alterations in current intensity produced typical changes in response rates. Animals with electrodes implanted into cortical grafts or into the denervated striatum failed to exhibit self-stimulation. These findings suggest that transplanted dopamine neurons convey specific, temporally organized information axonally to the striatum.
D000818:Animals; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000166:cytology; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000166:cytology*; D003913:Dextroamphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology; D004298:Dopamine / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005475:Flupenthixol / Q000494:pharmacology; D011699:Putamen / Q000166:cytology; D051381:Rats; D012653:Self Stimulation / Q000502:physiology*; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000637:transplantation*
D005475:Flupenthixol; D003913:Dextroamphetamine; D004298:Dopamine