Responsiveness to dopaminergic agonists after devascularizing lesions of the cortex

Unilateral devascularizing lesions of neocortex of the rat altered the responsiveness to the direct and indirect dopaminergic agonists, apomorphine and methamphetamine, respectively. These lesions produced subcortical damage manifesting itself as (1) decreased responsiveness to drug-induced locomotor activity, (2) the development of drug-induced rotational activity and (3) loss of body weight. Administration of the monosialoganglioside GM1 (i.c.v.; 5 mg/kg/day; 7 days) reversed these effects when the subjects were tested 10 and 30 days after surgery. The data are interpreted as resulting from damage to dopaminergic systems in the striatum.