The striatal lesion induced by QUIN in rats.

<p>In the left panel, a schematic representation of the lesion site (dorsal striatum) in a drawing of a coronal section of the rat brain is depicted. Red line represents the needle trajectory. In the right panel, <b>A-D</b> micrographs (40X) show striatal sections stained with Haemotoxylin & Eosin (Bar size 100 μm), where <b>A</b> corresponds to Sham (mechanically lesioned right striatum); <b>B</b> is the contralateral (unlesioned) striatum in the same animal; <b>C</b> shows the right striatum lesioned by QUIN (240 nmol/μl); and <b>D</b> depicts the contralateral unlesioned striatum from the same QUIN-infused rat. Sham and unlesioned striata (<b>A</b>, <b>B</b> and <b>D</b>) show neuronal cells without structural alterations, whereas the QUIN-lesioned striatum (<b>C</b>) exhibits morphological alterations nearby the lesion site that were characterized by diffuse vacuolization, pyknosis, edema and neuropil degeneration.