Figure 1.

Timeline of the experimental plan. Two weeks after the lesion with 6-OHDA, rats were tested with the DA agonist apomorphine (APO) and then selected for successful lesions, based on the number of contraversive turns, counted with automatic rotometers for 40 min as previously reported. Two months after the lesion, the animals were randomly allotted in five different experimentally treated groups: Control group (saline, i.p.); I Pramipexole group (0.1 mg/kg, i.p., twice a day); II Pramipexole group (0.3 mg/kg, i.p., twice a day); III Pramipexole group (1 mg/kg, i.p., once a day); and l-DOPA group (10 mg/kg, twice a day). At the end of chronic pharmacological treatment, animals were killed by cervical dislocation and coronal corticostriatal slices were prepared. After ≥30 min, the slices were used for electrophysiological recordings.