Longlasting consequences of chronic treatment with the dopamine agonist quinpirole for the undrugged behavior of rats

This study asks whether apart from behavioral sensitization, chronic treatment with the D2 dopamine agonist quinpirole produces long-term effects on undrugged behavior. Rats (n = 12) were pretreated with 10 injections of quinpirole (0.5 mg/kg every 4 days in activity cages), producing a 6-fold increase in locomotor activity. Ten days later, their undrugged behavior was assessed in a large open field, and their spatial learning in a Morris water …