Figure 2.

Restoration of forelimb akinesia after chronic treatment with dopaminergic drugs: pramipexole versus l-DOPA treatment. A, Graph shows the motor effect of the drugs at the beginning of every week of treatment. All treatments increased the performance in stepping test, without any overall statistically significant differences. B, Graph shows the therapeutic effect of pramipexole versus l-DOPA on the forelimb akinesia, measured prior the beginning of the treatment (Baseline), compared with the last session test (End of treatment). Interestingly, 1 mg/kg doses of pramipexole were more effective than chronic l-DOPA treatment (°p < 0.05), but not statistically different from 0.3 mg/kg pramipexole dose (*p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001; Baseline vs End of treatment) (°p < 0.05, °°p < 0.01 between groups).