Aminooxyacetic acid produces excitotoxic lesions in the rat striatum.

The neuropathological, biochemical, and behavioral effects of intrastriatal injection of aminooxyacetic acid (AOAA), a non-specific transaminase inhibitor, were examined in rats. AOAA, 0.1-1 mumol, produced neuronal damage when injected into the striatum of adult rats but failed to damage the striatum of 6-d-old or decorticated rats. AOAA-induced (0.25 mumol-1 mumol) striatal lesions in adult rats displayed excitotoxic characteristics and could be prevented by the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists (-)-2-amino-7-phosphono-heptanoate (AP7; 0.25 mumol) or kynurenate (KYNA; 0.5 mumol), but not by the non-NMDA antagonist 2,3-dihydroxy-6-nitro-7-sulphamoyl-benzo(F)quinoxaline (NBQX; 0.25 mumol). AOAA produced a dose-dependent reduction in striatal L-glutamate decarboxylase activity, as measured 14 d following intrastriatal injection, which could also be prevented by AP7 or KYNA, but not by NBQX. These findings suggest that AOAA-induced lesions are preferentially mediated by activation of the NMDA subtype of excitatory amino acid receptors. Behavioral studies revealed that the cataleptic response to haloperidol, 2 mg/kg, was decreased whereas the cataleptic response to arecoline, 15 mg/kg, and morphine, 15 mg/kg, was potentiated in AOAA lesioned animals 14 d following bilateral intrastriatal injections of AOAA, 0.25 and 1 mumol. In rats which received unilateral intrastriatal injection of AOAA, 0.1-1 mumol, apomorphine, 0.5 mg/kg, induced circling towards the lesioned side. Rats which received AP7, 0.25 mumol, or KYNA, 0.5 mumol, coadministered with AOAA, 0.25 mumol, behaved as vehicle-treated controls, while those which received NBQX, 0.25 mumol, and AOAA, 0.25 mumol, had behavioral patterns similar to those subjected to AOAA alone.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)