6-Hydroxydopamine lesion of the rat prefrontal cortex impairs motor initiation but not motor execution

✍ Scribed by W. Hauber; M. Bubser; W. J. Schmidt

• Book ID: 104673318
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 548 KB
• Volume: 99
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0014-4819
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00228988

✦ Synopsis

We examined the effects of bilateral 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesions of the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) in rats on motor initiation and execution in a simple reaction time task. Reaction times (RT) and movement times (MT) were measured in trained rats on four pre- and postoperative days. Animals with 6-OHDA lesions were selectively impaired on motor initiation as measured by a significant increase in RT on each postoperative day. Motor execution was intact postoperatively, since MT was not altered. Neurochemical analysis revealed a significant depletion of prefrontal dopamine (DA) and noradrenaline (NA) in lesioned animals. It was concluded that DA and, to a lesser extent, NA in the rat PFC were involved in monitoring RT performance.