Proposed animal model of severe Parkinson's disease: neonatal 6-hydroxydopamine lesion of dopaminergic innervation of striatum.

Rats lesioned shortly after birth with 6-hydroxydopamine are posed as a near-ideal model of severe Parkinson's disease, because of the non-lethality of the procedure, near-total destruction of nigrostriatal dopaminergic fibers, near-total dopamine (DA)-denervation of striatum, reproducibility of effect, and relative absence of overt behavioral effects--there is no aphasia, no adipsia, and no change in motor activity. In vivo microdialysis findings reinforce the utility of the animal model, clearly demonstrating L-DOPA beneficial actions without an increase in hydroxyl radical production.