Summary
The study examines the hypothesis that changes in behavioural responsiveness induced by apomorphine reflect an effect of the drug on visual, tactile, vestibular, or proprioceptive sensory input. Rats were injected with apomorphine (1.25 mg/kg) and administered a neurological examination in which stimuli from the different sensory modalities were tested for their ability to elicit a limb placing response. Results indicate that these sensory stimuli were equally effective in eliciting reflex placing reactions in saline-and apomorphine-treated rats. Thus, contrary to the hypothesis, apomorphine does not appear to affect the reception of visual, tactile, vestibular, or proprioceptive sensory input. Tests of equilibration (righting) induced by static tilt revealed a fractionated response under apomorphine (0.6–5 mg/kg). Since the response to tilt probably involves striatal integration of vestibular and proprioceptive input, it is suggested that apomorphine disrupts sensory or sensorimotor integration.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baloh RW, Honrubia V (1979) Clinical neurophysiology of the vestibular system. F. A. Davis, Philadelphia
Cheal ML (1979) Stimulus-elicited investigation in apomorphine-treated gerbils. Behav Neur Biol 27:157–174
Crozier WJ, Pincus G (1927) Geotropic orientation of young rats. J Gen Physiol 10:519–524
Del Thiessen D, Upchurch M (1981) Haloperidol and clonidine increase, and apomorphine decreases ultrasonic vocalizations by gerbils. Psychopharmacology 75:287–290
Davis M, Aghajanian GK (1976) Effects of apomorphine and haloperidol on the acoustic startle response in rats. Psychopharmacology 47:217–223
Jaspers RMA, Cools AR (1988) Behavioural correlates of a progressive dysfunctioning of the caudate nucleus: effects of apomorphine. Behav Brain Res 27:193–204
Jerussi TP, Glick SD (1976) Drug-induced rotation in rats without lesions: behavioral and neurochemical indices of a normal asymmetry in nigro-striatal function. Psychopharmacology 47:249–260
Lal S, Sourkes TL (1973) Ontogeny of stereotyped behavior induced by apomorphine and amphetamine in the rat. Archs Int Pharmacodyn 202:171–182
Lidsky TI, Manetto C, Schneider JS (1985) A consideration of sensory factors involved in motor functions of the basal ganglia. Brain Res Rev 9:133–146
Lyon MF (1951) Hereditary absence of otoliths in the house mouse. J Physiol 114:410–418
Pellis SM, de la Cruz F, Pellis VC, Teitelbaum P (1956) Morphine subtracts subcomponents of haloperidol-isolated postural support reflexes to reveal gradients of their integration. Behav Neurosci 100:631–646
Martin JP (1967) The basal ganglia and posture. J. B. Lippincott, Philadelphia Toronto
Marshall JF, Teitelbaum P (1974) Further analysis of sensory inattention following lateral hypothalamic damage in rats. J Comp Physiol Psychol 86:375–395
Pisa MP, Szechtman H (1986) Lateralized and compulsive exteroceptive orientation in rats treated with apomorphine. Neurosci Lett 64:41–46
Steiner H, Huston JP, Morgan S (1986) Apomorphine reverses direction in facial scanning after 10 days of unilateral vibrissae removal in rats: vibrissotomy-induced denervation supersensitivity? Behav Brain Res 22:283–287
Strasser S, Dixon AK (1986) Effects of visual and acoustic deprivation on agonistic behaviour of the albino mouse (M. musculus L.). Physiol Behav 36:773–778
Szechtman H (1983) Peripheral sensory input directs apomorphine-induced circling in rats. Brain Res 264:332–335
Szechtman H (1986) Behavior performed at onset of drug action and apomorphine stereotypy. Eur J Pharmacol 121:49–56
Szechtman H, Ornstein K, Teitelbaum P, Golani I (1982) Snout contact fixation, climbing and gnawing during apomorphine stereotypy in rats from two substrains. Eur J Pharmacol 80: 385–392
Szechtman H, Ornstein K, Teitelbaum P, Golani I (1985) The morphogenesis of stereotyped behavior induced by the dopamine receptor agonist apomorphine in the laboratory rat. Neuroscience 14:783–798
van den Bercken JHL, Cools AR (1982) Evidence for a role of the caudate nucleus in the sequential organization of behavior. Behav Brain Res 4:319–337
Vanderwolf CH, Szechtman H (1987) Electrophysiological correlates of stereotyped sniffing in rats injected with apomorphine. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 26:299–304
Wolgin DL, Teitelbaum P (1978) Role of activation and sensory stimuli in recovery from lateral hypothalamic damage in the cat. J Comp Physiol Psychol 92:474–500
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Send offprint requests to H. Szechtman at the above address
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Szechtman, H. Effect of the dopamine receptor agonist apomorphine on sensory input. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol 338, 489–496 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00179319
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00179319