No abstract

The increased locomotor activity induced by systemic injections of d-amphetamine or scopolamine in rats was studied in Digiscan Animal Activity Monitors. This multifactorial analysis of locomotion demonstrated that activity measures of horizontal (ambulatory), vertical (rearing), stereotypic, and rotational behaviors differed depending on dose and drug. The topographies of these activity variables may be unique for the dopaminergic and cholinergic systems underlying hyperactivity. These results are a first step toward a needed increase in the sophistication of behavioral pharmacological techniques, allowing for the development of specific activity prints for different classes of psychoactive agents.

No abstract

Rats which receive injections of kainic acid (KA) into the striatum show many of the anatomical, biochemical and behavioral abnormalities seen in patients with Huntington's disease. Recently, it has been reported that fetal striatal transplants into the lesioned striatum could normalize the neurological and behavioral abnormalities produced by the KA lesion. The present study examined the issue of transplant integration in producing behavioral recovery. In one experiment, lesioned animals with transplants located within the lateral ventricle were compared against parenchymally transplanted rats. It was found that unless the ventricular transplant grew into the lesioned striatum there was no recovery. The second experiment demonstrated that electrolytic destruction of a successful fetal striatal transplant could reverse the transplant-induced behavioral recovery. These results suggest that the integrity of the transplant is important in maintaining behavioral recovery. A continuing functional interaction between the host brain

No abstract