Pharmacology Btochermstrv&Behavtor, Vol 16, pp 455-462, 1982 Pnnted m the U S A Tactile Extinction: Distinguishing Between Sensorimotor and Motor Asymmetries in Rats with Unilateral Nigrostriatal Damage T SCHALLERT, M UPCHURCH, N LOBAUGH, S B FARRAR Department of Psychology W W SPIRDUSO, P GILLIAM Department of Physwal and Health Education D VAUGHN AND R E WILCOX Department of Pharmacology, Umverstty of Texas at Austm, Austin, TX 78712 Received 28 August 1981 SCHALLERT, T, M UPCHURCH, N LOBAUGH, S B FARRAR, W W SPIRDUSO, P GILLIAM, D VAUGHN AND R E WILCOX Tactde e~ctvtctton Dt~ttngutshmg bet~,een ~ensor:motor and motor as)mmetrles m rat~ **tth umlateral mgrostrtatal damage PHARMAC BIOCHEM BEHAV 16(3) 455--462, 1982 --We describe and demonstrate the usefulness of a rehable procedure for quantifying "sensonmotor' asymmetnes m rats with mgrostnatal damage Conventional tests, such as the popular Von Frey hatr technique are somet,mes inadequate in that posture responses are difficult to quantify, they are suscepttble to subject,ve mterpretatmn, and they requtre that the animal make head move- ments Circling behawor has become estabhshed as a measure of asymmetrical nlgrostnatal activity, but it does not measure sttmulus-d~rected movement One group of rats was given undateral mlcromfuslons of 6-OHDA into the mgrostn- atal system wh,ch decreased levels of dopamme m the lpsdateral stnatum and ytelded an ,psllateral turning bins Another group was given electrolytic les,ons m the substantm mgra area, whtch yielded a severe contralateral clrchng bins Small p~eces of adhesive paper were applied to vanous parts of the hmbs or snout and latenc~es to remove the stimuli were recorded Because head and body movements were not reqmred, assessment of sttmulus-d,rected movement asymmetries could be quantified rapidly without the Interference of stimulus-independent ('spontaneous") postural and motor asym- metries In the 6-OHDA-treated rats there was lpsdateral bins m stimulus-directed actlvlty Indeed, there was lpsdateral hyper-reactlvlty relatwe to sham controls In rats with electrolytic mgra lesions, despite a strong contralateral "spontane- ous" motor bins, there likewise was an lpsdateral btas in st,mulus-dlrected movement, which could only be detected using the adheswe removal test This s~mllara~y m stlmulus-d,rected movement asymmetry between the two groups may reflect a common asymmetry m ascending dop~tmlnerg,c pathways The opposite c~rchng btas following electrolytic mgra lesmns may reflect dlfferentml damage to non-dopammerglc efferent projections The bdateral adheswe removal (tactde extmc- tmn) test appears to permit the separate quantlficatmn of st~mulus-d,rected and stimulus-independent movement asymmet- ries Sensory extraction 6-Hydroxydopamme Sensorlmotor dysfunction Neostrmtum Substantm mgra Neglect Catecholammes Asymmetry FOR many years investigators have speculated about the neural sources of asymmetrical movements in ammals In his classic textbook in 1915 [39], Luoam covered more than a century of prior research on the asymmemcal behavioral effects of undateral destruction of various brain areas In 1918, Loeb [38] reviewed behavioral tropisms and taxes, and later, Fraenkel and Gunn [16] wrote on the concept of "re- flex maps" for unlearned orientation behavior More re- cently, Denny-Brown [11] d~scussed the hierarchical organ- tzat~on of forced movements m man 1Supported by NIH grant NS-17274 to T Schallert, by NIMH grant 33442 to R E Wdcox and W H Rlffee, by the Umverslty of Texas BRSG to R E Wdcox, and by NIA grant AG-02071 to W W Sp~rduso, H W Bonner and R P Farrar 2Sketches that dlustrate the placement of stunuh wdl be attached to each reprint requested Copyright o 1982 ANKHO International Inc--0091-3057/82/030455-08503 00/0