KAINIC ACID LESIONS OF THE STRIATUM IN RATS MIMIC THE SPONTANEOUS MOTOR ABNORMALITIES OF HUNTINGTONS-DISEASE

Injection of 3 nm of kainic acid dissolved in 0.5 ml of phosphate buffer, pH 7.2, into the dorsal striatum of the rat was found to increase two-fold the nocturnal locomotor activity of the animal without affecting its daytime activity. The neuroleptic drug, pimozide, was effective in reducing this locomotor activity at night but at no dose tested did it normalize function, suggesting a failure to act directly on the neuropathology of the lesion. These findings are interpreted in terms of the striatal-lesioned rat being a model for the human disease of Huntington's Chorea. © 1979.