Effects of Methamphetamine in the Motor Striatum of Mice

Abstract

Determining the mechanism by which methamphetamine effects striatal functioning is an important goal in attaining further insight for the neuronal effects of methamphetamine and exact processes by which neurotoxicity occurs. The present experiment is a preliminary study that used a terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediate dUTP nick end labeling [TUNEL] kit to identify cell death, due to methamphetamine, in three distinct regions of mouse striatum This was observed in both adult and developing mice pups. Pregnant female mice were injected with either 20-mg/kg or 30-mg/kg body weight amounts of methamphetamine hydrochloride for I 0 days during pregnancy and the brains tissue samples were taken from their pups at days PIO (10 days after birth), P30, and then as adults. Results showed most cell death occurred in rostral striatum. The P30 mice revealed significantly more cell death than P10 and adult mice.