Effects of nerve growth factor infusion on behavioral recovery and graft survival following intraventricular adrenal medulla grafts in the unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesioned rat.

NGF was infused into the lateral ventricle of rats with unilateral 6-OHDA lesions of the substantia nigra along with adrenal medulla or control grafts. Treatment effectiveness, as measured by amphetamine-induced turning behavior, indicated that there were no significant differences between treated and control groups in spite of the survival of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunoreactive grafts. Furthermore, adrenal medulla graft survival was not dependent on NGF infusion. These results indicate that TH-positive graft survival is not correlated with behavioral recovery as assessed by amphetamine-induced turning. These results differ from studies which utilized apomorphine-induced turning as a measure of behavioral recovery. We propose that adrenal medulla graft survival alone is not sufficient to promote behavioral recovery in the 6-OHDA lesioned rat.