Amphetamine- and stress-induced turning after nigral transplants in neonatally dopamine-depleted rats

Neonatally dopamine-depleted rats fail to show the deficits seen in similarly lesioned adults, and no longer appear to require dopamine. Nevertheless, unilateral nigral transplants provided extensive reinnervation and were capable of modifying motor patterns. Both amphetamine and external stressors elicited contraversive turning. This raises the question of whether extrinsic dopamine innervation supplements or overrides alternative compensatory mechanisms in the neonate.