2.214 IMPAIRED CONSOLIDATION OF MOTOR LEARNING IN PARKINSON'S DISEASE

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

intact (n = 9/10) whilst two groups (n =17+14/34+13) underwent unilateral 6-hydroxy-dopamine (6OHDA) lesions of the medial forebrain bundle. One 6OHDA group was administered 10mg/kg L-DOPA/day for two weeks. Animals were food restricted and drugfree throughout motor and operant testing. In experiment 1, animals were assessed for their ability to retrieve pellets from staircase boxes using their ipsilateral and contralateral paws without pre-lesion exposure to the boxes. In experiment 2, animals were pre-trained on the staircase task and a lateralised choice reaction time task (CRTT), and their post-lesion performance on both compared. 6OHDA lesions decreased the number of contralateral pellets retrieved from the staircase boxes, as well as accuracy on the CRTT when responding to contralateral stimuli – something previous publications have proposed reflect impaired reward signalling. Surprisingly L-DOPA priming further impaired the CRTT deficit, and the rate with which animals without – but not with – pre-training learned to retrieve pellets from the staircase boxes. Preliminary data thus support the hypothesis that L-DOPA priming affects motor learning.