L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia in the rat Parkinson model: interhemispheric functional coupling of the two nigrostriatal pathways

Objective: To characterize L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia in the rat model of Parkinson's disease (PD). Aims: Long-term L-DOPA treatment can induce severe dyskinesia in patients with PD. In the rat PD model, repeated pulsatile administration of L-DOPA progressively induces involuntary movements, which resemble L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia in patients with PD. However, all dyskinesia studies in the rat PD model have exclusively been performed in animals with unilateral dopamine-denervating lesions, i.e. animals showed involuntary movements only on one side of the body. We have therefore performed a study in rats with bil…