Common neural mechanisms in experimental chorea and hemiballismus in the monkey. Evidence from 2-deoxyglucose autoradiography.

The autoradiographic 2-deoxyglucose uptake technique was used to visualise local cerebral metabolic activity in the monkey in recently developed models of chorea and hemiballismus. Unilateral dyskinesia was induced by injection of a gamma-aminobutyric acid antagonist into the corpus striatum (in the case of chorea) or subthalamic nucleus (in the case of hemiballismus). Patterns of 2-deoxyglucose uptake suggest that during both forms of experimental dyskinesia the subthalamic nucleus and its projection to the globus pallidus are abnormally hypoactive.