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Abstract

The consequences of short phases of restricted cerebral blood flow and iron enrichment of striatal tissues resulted in an animal model that could correspond to the basic features of a model for Parkinson's disease. An automatic and computerized hole-board offers simultaneous data on learning and cognitive (memory capabilities, learning of distinct patterns of distributed food pellets found and eaten in a given time, switches between different locations of food in the holes and in different layout patterns. Wistar rats after 60 min of bilateral clamping of the carotid arteries (BCCA) under pentobarbital anesthesia received 1.5 mu g FeCl3 injected one week after BCCA unilaterally into the ventrolateral striatum. The experiments showed that reduced cerebral Hood flow and increased iron within the striatal tissue had the effect of retard.ng reactions. Rats after BCCA and iron need 180 s to find pellets deep inside holes that are distributed in a distinct pattern. During only 60 or 30s BCCA plus iron rats are no longer able to find the same number of pellets as over 180s. Rats after BCCA plus NaCl do not show such reduced success. These results point to the idea that cerebral oligemia and increased iron in :he striatum stimulate the pathological symptoms of Parkinson's disease which need also more time to have reaction and success (see Fig. 5). The data covering abbreviated time-spans show how heavily the BCCA + Fe animals are dependent on longer times.