Effects of intracerebral quinpirole on locomotion in rats.

The effects of the dopamine D2 receptor agonist quinpirole (LY 171555) on locomotor activity and margin time (thigmotaxis or wall-hugging) were measured for 2 h in rats injected either s.c. (vehicle, 0.02, 2.0 mg/kg) or directly into either the dorsal striatum or nucleus accumbens (vehicle, 0.1, 1.0, 10, 20 or 40 micrograms bilaterally in each site). In all groups, margin time decreased as drug dose increased. As in previous research, quinpirole given s.c. decreased locomotor activity at a low dose and had a biphasic effect on locomotor activity at the high dose. Both of these effects were also elicited by quinpirole injected directly into the dorsal striatum; 10 and 20 micrograms decreased locomotion immediately, while 40 micrograms led to both the immediate decrease and a later increase. In contrast, the lowest doses of quinpirole (0.1 and 1.0 microgram) injected into the nucleus accumbens led to an increase in locomotion from 20 to 60 min, while the higher doses led only to the early decrease. Thus, both the locomotor activating and inhibiting effects of quinpirole are found in both the nucleus accumbens and the dorsal striatum, but the differing dose-response relationships indicate that the mechanisms are not the same in these two brain regions.