Amphetamine accelerates recovery of locomotor function following bilateral frontal cortex ablation in cats.

Prior work has demonstrated that d-amphetamine hastens recovery of beam-walking ability following unilateral sensorimotor or frontal cortex ablation (D. A. Hovada and D. M. Feeney; see record 1985-11540-001). In this study, after bilateral frontal cortex ablation, cats given injections of d-amphetamine showed an enduring acceleration of recovery of beam-walking ability relative to saline controls. In general, rates of spontaneous and drug-induced recovery in cats with bilateral lesions were similar to those previoulsy reported for cats with unilateral ablations. These results indicate that the bilateral corticostriate and corticothalamic projections from the contralateral homotopic cortex do not mediate the beneficial effects of d-amphetamine on locomotor recovery after unilateral cortical ablation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)