Degeneration in the adult rat spinal cord following systemic treatment with 6-hydroxydopamine. Light-microscopic...

3 and 5 days following intravenous injection of 6-OHDA (100 mg/kg) in adult rats, the Nauta technique demonstrated sparse axon degeneration in laminae V, VII, IX and X of Rexed in the mid-thoracic spinal cord and also in the lateral and ventral white columns. This showed that in adult rats 6-OHDA may pass the blood-brain barrier at the level of the spinal cord. An unexpected finding was the absence of degeneration in the laminae dorsal to lamina V, where noradrenergic nerve terminals are known to occur.