Stereoscopic frame

Female Wistar rats (200–270 g; Janvierlabs, France) were anesthetized with Isoflurane (75% N₂O, 20% O₂, 4.5–5%) followed by an intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of Narketan (75 mg/kg; Vétoquind AG, Ittigen, CH, Switzerland) and Xylaxine (5 mg/kg; Vétoquind AG, Ittigen, CH, Switzerland) and a subcutaneous (s.c.) injection of Buprenorphine (0.5 mg/kg; Reckitt Benckiser AG, Wallisellen, Switzerland) applied 30 min before surgical intervention. Thereafter, the rats were placed in a stereoscopic frame (Stoelting Co.) on a heating pad. Each rat received an injection of 4 μl of 6-OHDA (20 mM 6-OHDA; H116 Sigma-Aldrich Chemie GmbH) through a small burr hole created in the skull into the right striatum. The injection was performed over 4 min using a 10 μl Hamilton syringe. The following coordinates in relation to bregma were used (Paxinos Watson rat brain atlas): anterior 1.0 mm, lateral 3.0 mm and 5.0 mm ventral to the dura, the incisor bar was set at 0.0 mm. After the surgery rats were allowed to recover for 5 weeks.

Female Wistar rats (200–270 g; Janvierlabs, France) were anesthetized with Isoflurane (75% N₂O, 20% O₂, 4.5–5%) followed by an intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of Narketan (75 mg/kg; Vétoquind AG, Ittigen, CH) and Xylazine (5 mg/kg; Vétoquind AG, Ittigen, CH). Buprenorphine (0.5 mg/kg; Reckitt Benckiser AG, Wallisellen) was subcutaneously (s.c.) injected 30 min before the surgical intervention. Under deep anesthesia the rats were placed on a heating pad and fixed in a stereoscopic frame (Stoelting Co.). Through a small burr hole in the skull 4 μl of 6-OHDA (32 mM 6-OHDA; H116 Sigma–Aldrich Chemie GmbH) were injected into the right striatum according to the following coordinates in relation to bregma (Paxinos Watson rat brain atlas): anterior 1.0 mm, lateral 3.0 mm and 5.0 mm ventral to the dura, the incisor bar was set at 0.0 mm. The injection rate was 1 μl/min. The syringe was left in place for additional 4 min before slowly retracting the needle.