Chronic dizocilpine maleate (MK-801) treatment suppresses the effects of nigrostriatal dopamine deafferentation on enkephalin but not on substance P expression in the rat striatum.

The present study examined the effects of chronic treatment with dizocilpine maleate (0.2 mg/kg i.p., twice a day for 8 days) alone or in combination with unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine-induced lesion of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons on substance P and enkephalin expression in the rat striatum. This was done by means of quantitative in situ hybridization histochemistry and immunocytochemistry. As reported previously, the unilateral dopaminergic lesion resulted in marked decreases in substance P mRNA expression and immunoreactivity in the ipsilateral striatum while enkephalin mRNA expression and Met-enkephalin immunoreactivity were considerably increased in this structure. Blockade of NMDA receptors by chronic dizocilpine maleate treatment alone resulted in decreased levels of striatal substance P mRNA without significant change in substance P immunoreactivity versus controls. Enkephalin mRNA levels were also decreased in the striatum, matched by parallel reductions in Met-enkephalin immunoreactivity. These observations indicate that NMDA receptor activity may exert tonic excitatory effects on substance P and enkephalin expression in the striatum. The same chronic treatment with dizocilpine maleate started 12 days after the 6-hydroxydopamine injection suppressed the lesion-induced up-regulation of enkephalin expression without significantly affecting the down-regulation of substance P expression. These data provide evidence that NMDA receptor-mediated mechanisms contribute to the alteration of striatal enkephalin expression associated with dopaminergic depletion in hemiparkinsonian rat models.