title: Gonadectomy attenuates turning behavior produced by electrical stimulation of the nigrostriatal dopamine system in female but not male rats.
abstract: Rotational behavior induced by electrical stimulation of ascending dopamine neurons is used as a behavioral model to investigate gender and hormonal influences on extra-hypothalamic dopamine systems. Steroid hormones influence the metabolism of many dopaminergic drugs, and therefore this approach avoids the complications inherent in drug-induced behavior models of dopamine activity. We found that gonadectomy of female, but not male, rats severely attenuates electrical stimulation-induced rotational behavior. This suggests that some female gonadal steroid hormone(s) may modulate the activity of ascending dopamine neurons, while male gonadal hormones do not.
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D002369:Castration; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000502:physiology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D051381:Rats; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine / Q000502:physiology*; D012399:Rotation; D012737:Sex Factors; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D011954:Receptors, Dopamine