Next, the functional impairments were monitored by
rating animal rotations induced by apomorphine and evaluating
maximal motor performance using the accelerating rotarod test
(Fig. 1). Because our PD mouse model had unilateral nigrostriatal
damage in the right hemisphere, the rotational behavior by
apomorphine, a dopamine receptor agonist, was used to investigate
nigrostriatal function. 6-OHDA-injected mice spontaneously
exhibited severe full-body contralateral rotations after a
single subcutaneous administration of apomorphine (Fig. 1C). In
contrast, the hASC-injected PD mice showed significantly
decreased net rotations (average number of rotation, saline, 3
1; saline and/or hASC, 2 1; 6-OHDA, 195 21; 6-OHDA/
hASC, 123 14).