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PRODROMAL TIMELINE OF A PARKINSON?S DISEASE MODEL: ANXIETY-LIKE BEHAVIOR PRECEDES COGNITIVE AND MOTOR IMPAIRMENTLeandro Gabriel Champarini, Macarena Lorena Herrera, Matías Javega Cometto, Aracely Naranjo Viteri, Rosana Crespo, Gastón Diego Calfa, Claudia Beatriz HereñúInstituto de Farmacología Experimental Córdoba (IFEC-CONICET) - Departamento de Farmacología. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina.Parkinson´s disease results from a progressive dopaminergic neuronal loss, characterized by multiple motor and non-motor symptoms. Currently, its diagnosis is based on motor deficits, but there is also a variety of previous and coexisting non-motor symptoms that result from dysfunction of interconnected systems. We aimed to determine, in a rat model of neurotoxicity, the progression of deficits on cognitive tasks and anxiety-like behavior before the onset of motor impairment. The animals, at day 0, were injected with 6-OHDA or with vehicle solution into the dorsolateral striatum (experimental or control groups, respectively). Independent groups of rats were tested only once in a behavioral task after 1, 2 and 3 weeks post lesion (Contextual fear conditioning, Y-maze, elevated plus maze, light-dark box test and locomotor activity test). We observed anxiety-like behavior 2 and 3 weeks post lesion. We observed working memory impairment in 6-OHDA rats after 3 weeks of neurodegeneration, without motor alterations. These results could be associated with a partial lesion of the nigrostriatal DA system since we found a decrease in the immunoreactivity of tyrosine hydroxylase in the substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area, and striatum. We concluded that a single bilateral infusion of 6OHDA induced anxiety-like behavior before cognitive alterations that preceded locomotor deficits in the employed dopamine-depleted animal model.