Functional neuroanatomic mapping of the rat striatum: regional differences in glucose utilization in normal controls and after treatment with apomorphine.

Glucose utilization was measured in 5 regions of rat striatum within four anterior-posterior levels. Areas of minimal and maximal glucose utilization were identified. Density-window image analysis was used to quantify areas of minimal and maximal glucose utilization, which were also apparent upon close visual inspection. In a normal control group, there were substantial regional variations in striatal glucose utilization (e.g. dorsal vs ventral; dorsomedial vs dorsolateral), revealing a detailed pattern, previously unavailable, which served as a baseline to study the effect of systemic apomorphine. The highest levels of glucose utilization were in small islands 0.01-0.25 mm2, and in what appeared to be dense clusters of islands that formed larger zones. Apomorphine treatment decreased glucose utilization in dorsomedial regions, increased it in a ventromedial region, and did not change it in others. The findings emphasize the importance of regional analysis of striatum in functional and physiological studies, and provide a new baseline for analyses of striatal glucose utilization in studies of development and aging, drug effects, external stimuli, and rat models of movement disorders.