Oral dyskinesia in rats following brain lesions and neuroleptic drug administration

After 10–12 weeks of chronic haloperidol administration rats with frontal cortex ablations or lesions induced by intracerebroventricular injection of 6-hydroxydopamine developed vacuous chewing behavior at a fairly stable frequency (bifrontal ablations had 15–20, 6-hydroxy-dopamine lesioned rats 7–12 chewing movements/min). This behavior persisted for 10 weeks after the last injection of haloperidol decanoate. However, rats with frontal cortex lesions developed a low rate of vacuous chewings (4–8 chewings/min) even without haloperidol administration. Bilateral intrastriatal injections of kainic acid in combination with chronic haloperidol administration did not cause chewing movements in excess of unlesioned haloperidol-treated controls.