Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 18, 2026
Assessment of Dopaminergic Homeostasis in Mice by Use of High-performance Liquid Chromatography Analysis and Synaptosomal Dopamine Uptake
Published on: September 21, 2017
Relationship between L-DOPA-induced reduction in motor and exploratory activity and degree of DAT binding in the rat
Susanne Nikolaus1, Markus Beu1, Angelica Maria De Souza Silva2
1Clinic of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Düsseldorf Düsseldorf, Germany.
Purpose:
The present study assessed the influence of L-DOPA administration on neostriatal dopamine (DA) transporter (DAT) binding in relation to motor and exploratory behaviors in the rat.
Methods:
Rats received injections of 5 mg/kg L-DOPA, 10 mg/kg L-DOPA or vehicle. Motor and exploratory behaviors were assessed for 30 min in an open field prior to administration of [(123)I]FP-CIT. Dopamine transporter binding was measured with small animal single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) 2 h after radioligand administration for 60 min.
Results:
Both L-DOPA doses significantly reduced DAT binding and led to significantly less head-shoulder motility and more sitting relative to vehicle. Moreover, 10 mg/kg L-DOPA induced less distance traveled and ambulation than 5 mg/kg L-DOPA. Analysis of time-behavior (t-b) curves showed that L-DOPA-treated animals relative to vehicle exhibited (1) a faster rate of increase in duration of sitting; (2) a slower rate of increase in duration of head-shoulder motility; and (3) a slower rate of decrease in frequency of head-shoulder motility.
Conclusions:
The reductions of striatal DAT binding after L-DOPA challenges reflected elevated concentrations of synaptic DA. L-DOPA-treated animals showed less head-shoulder motility and more sitting than vehicle-treated animals, indicating an association between less behavioral activity and increased availability of striatal DA. The faster increase of sitting duration to a higher final level and the slower increase of head-shoulder motility to a lower final level relative to controls may be interpreted in terms on behavioral habituation to a novel environment.
