| Abstract: | Six weeks following complete unilateral surgical isolation of the rat caudate nucleus, activation of adenylate cyclase was reduced in response to dopamine (DA), norepinephrine (NE), 5' -guanylyl-imidodiphosphate Gpp(NH)p], DA + Gpp(NH)p, and NaF. The low Km form of cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase was elevated in the isolated side when compared to the intact caudate. No changes in activities of guanylate cyclase or in high Km cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase (with or without the calcium-dependent regulator protein, calmodulin or CDR) were observed between the control and isolated caudate. Histologically, the neural damage to the isolated caudate was principally confined to reduced numbers of dendritic spines of the remaining intrinsic caudate neurons. |
