In Lesch-Nyhan disease, concentrations of hypoxanthine are elevated especially in the brain and cerebrospinal fluid; dopamine and its metabolites are reduced in the caudate and putamen. Hence we investigated the possibility that hypoxanthine has direct effects on dopamine neurons. / Hypoxanthine, adenine or allopurinol was delivered unilaterally into the rat brain. Behavioural effects were monitored by apomorphine-induced rotation; ipsilateral turning was time and dose-dependent. Turning was competitively blocked by a non-specific DA antagonist, suggesting that dopamine neurons were altered. In hypoxanthine treated animals, a D1 antagonist specifically blocked rotation; catalepsy occurred after caffeine administration. / After two or three weeks treatment all groups had elevated purine levels in the caudate nuclei, while catecholamine levels were variably altered.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.59392 |
| Date | January 1989 |
| Creators | Heshka, Timothy William |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Psychiatry.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001069221, proquestno: AAIMM63558, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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