Statistical analysis was performed with Statistica14.0.0.15″ (TIBCO Software Inc., Pao Alto, CA, USA). Values are shown as means ± SEM. Analysis of D1DR and D2DR binding densities in a defined brain region was performed for each anatomical level and region separately, using ANOVA GLM. Two measurements were taken within each site of each hemisphere and averaged. To account for sources of variation caused by local imperfections in the films, the local background levels were taken as continuous GLM predictors; their effects are not reported below. Anatomical levels were analyzed separately; anatomical subregions of a defined structure (i.e., parts of cortex, CPu, NAcbC, and NAcbSh) were taken as within-subjects factors, so a repeated measures analysis was used. ANOVA GLM for regional data was run with the epilepsy type (AGS and/or AbS, 2 × 2 design) as two between-subjects factors. This analysis provided information about the general effect of AGS/AbS susceptibilities, as previously done [24 ]. The putative effects of AGS were checked by comparing the pooled group of KM and WAG/Rij-AGS rats with the pooled group of AGS-unsusceptible rats (i.e., WS and WAG/Rij). The effects of AbS’ proneness were estimated by comparing the pooled groups of WAG/Rij and WAG/Rij-AGS rats with the pooled groups of WS and KM rats. The general effect of epilepsy (“Epi”) was assessed by comparing normal WS rats with the pooled data of the three groups of epileptic rats (i.e., KM, WAG/Rij, and WAG/Rij-AGS). General ANOVAs were followed by Fisher LSD post-hoc tests, if needed. The minimal level of significance was set at p = 0.05. Local striatal gradients in binding densities to D1DR and D2DR were assessed in normal Wistar rats by pairwise comparisons of dependent samples (Wilcoxon test; the minimal p level was set at 0.05). For the correlation part of the study [27 (link)], the striatal and accumbal sets of local binding densities to D1DR and D2DR were averaged, thus sets of the mean individual values of D1- and D2-like binding densities were generated for CPu and NAcb. Spearman’s rank order for the inter-correlations between individuals’ dorsal and ventral striatal values of binding densities was calculated for each group of rats separately. The minimal level of significance was set at p = 0.05.
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