CLIMBING BEHAVIOR INDUCED BY APOMORPHINE IN MICE - SIMPLE TEST FOR STUDY OF DOPAMINE RECEPTORS IN STRIATUM

Mice treated with low doses of apomorphine tend to adopt a vertical position along the walls of their cage. Optimal conditions have been defined to obtain a reliable dose-response relationship. This peculiar behavior, which appears to be elicited by stimulation of dopamine receptors in the striatum, is suppressed after coagulation of this structure and is facilitated when these receptors are made hypersensitive by previous treatments with 6-hydroxydopamine or haloperidol. It is not modified by coagulation of the nucleus accumbens. The relative efficacy of various agonists and antagonists of dopamine receptors have been determined on this test. This stereotyped behavior might represent a convenient mean to assess the stimulation of striatal dopamine receptors in mice.