Experimental design and histological verifications.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Schematic presentation of the experimental design with a time course of all the behavioral tests (EPM: elevated plus maze, FST: forced swim test, SPT: sucrose preference test) and electrophysiological recordings. The vertical arrows correspond to the days when the rats were submitted to the open field and rotarod tests. (<b>B</b>) Histological sections showing the location of the pontamine sky blue dots in the GP (left) and the STN (right). (<b>C</b>) Location of brain regions sampled for biochemistry studies. Circles delineate the rostral (top) and caudal (bottom) limits of the sampled regions of cortex and striatum used for HPLC.