Eye movements in monkeys with local dopamine depletion in the caudate nucleus. II. Deficits in voluntary saccades

J Neurosci. 1995 Jan;15(1 Pt 2):928-41. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.15-01-00928.1995.

Abstract

Unilateral infusion of MPTP into the monkey caudate nucleus produced deficits in task-specific saccades, in addition to the deficits in spontaneous eye movements (preceding article). We trained three monkeys to perform two kinds of saccade tasks: (1) saccade task for eliciting visually guided saccades and (2) delayed saccade task for eliciting memory-guided saccades. After the MPTP infusion, dopaminergic function, estimated by tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunoreactivity, was shown to be decreased locally around the infusion site at the head-body junction of the caudate. We found that the deficits were prominent in the saccades directed to the side contralateral to the infusion (contralateral saccades). Memory-guided saccades were sometimes misdirected to the ipsilateral side even when the cue stimulus was presented on the contralateral side. Among the parameters of saccades, a selective change was found in the saccade latency: the latency was prolonged consistently in contralateral memory-guided saccades. The amplitude and velocity of saccades decreased in contralateral saccades, either memory guided or visually guided. The duration of saccades tended to increase in visually-guided saccades and memory-guided saccades, in both directions. Only one monkey, in which the decrease in TH activity included a large part of the putamen and the head of the caudate, showed prolongation of manual reaction time for lever release.

MeSH terms

  • 1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine / pharmacology
  • Animals
  • Behavior, Animal / physiology
  • Caudate Nucleus / drug effects
  • Caudate Nucleus / metabolism*
  • Dopamine / deficiency*
  • Eye Movements*
  • Hand
  • Macaca
  • Male
  • Movement / drug effects
  • Reaction Time / drug effects
  • Saccades* / drug effects
  • Sodium Chloride / pharmacology

Substances

  • Sodium Chloride
  • 1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine
  • Dopamine