Glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) activity in the rat substantia nigra after discrete bilateral kainic acid-induced lesions of the caudate-putamen and globus pallidus: correlation with locomotor activity.

Bilateral injections of kainic acid into the head (both anterior and posterior positions) of the caudate nucleus, the body of the caudate and the globus pallidus showed that the descending GABAergic innervation to the substantia nigra originates predominantly from the body of the caudate nucleus. Locomotor activity was enhanced following the lesions but there was no correlation with the severity of nigral GAD depletion.