FIGURE 8.
Effect of fasudil on the development of l‐DOPA‐induced dyskinesia. Rats treated for 3 weeks (sixth, seventh and eighth) with l‐DOPA (6 mg·kg−1) + saline or l‐DOPA + 10 mg·kg−1 fasudil (n = 8 in both groups; a, c, e, g) and rats treated with l‐DOPA (6 mg·kg−1) + saline or l‐DOPA + 40 mg·kg−1 fasudil (n = 6 in both groups; b, d, f, h) revealed a significant reduction in the severity dyskinesia in rats treated with l‐DOPA + fasudil (white circles) relative to rats treated with l‐DOPA + saline (black circles). A significant decrease was observed in the AIMs total score (a, b) and in the different components: limb (c, d), axial (e, f) and orolingual (g, h) dyskinesias. On the ninth week (fourth week of treatment, arrow), the dose of l‐DOPA was increased to 24 mg·kg−1 to increase level of dyskinesia, which was significantly reduced by fasudil at 40 mg·kg−1 (b, d, f, h). Note that there are differences in y‐axis scale in different panels (right and left panels and total AIMs relative to AIM components). The AUCs are also shown in (a)–(h). Data are means ± SEM. *P < 0.05. unpaired Student's t‐test (AUC), and two‐way ANOVA for repeated measures and Holm–Sidak post hoc test. AIMs, abnormal involuntary movements