Reduction of GABAergic transmission and alterations in behavior after 6-OHDA treatment of rats.

We studied the effects of neonatal administration of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) upon gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and noradrenergic neurotransmission in the developing rat brain. After 6-OHDA administration tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunolabelling revealed more than 70% loss of catecholaminergic terminals in cortex. Glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) immunolabelling showed that the intensity of staining and the density of labelled terminals were decreased by approximately 50% in the prefrontal cortex of 6-OHDA treated animals, but in visual and somatosensory zones there was no difference between lesioned and control cortex. The open field test revealed an altered development of the searching activity after neonatal 6-OHDA injections. A significant difference was found between 6-OHDA treated and control rats in searching, orienting and skills performance. Our results indicate that the behavioral changes observed in young rats after 6-OHDA treatment may be reflections not only of reduced catecholaminergic transmission but also of GABAergic disturbance, occurring in the frontal cortex.