Smith_1996_Brain.Res_707_13

Reference

Title : Cholinergic improvement of a naturally-occurring memory deficit in the young rat - Smith_1996_Brain.Res_707_13
Author(s) : Smith RD , Kistler MK , Cohen-Williams M , Coffin VL
Ref : Brain Research , 707 :13 , 1996
Abstract :

In a single-trial, passive-avoidance response (PAR) paradigm, young rats at post-natal day (PND) 16 were found to exhibit a performance deficit that diminished progressively with age. When administered prior to training, single peripheral injections of cholinomimetic drugs, either a muscarinic agonist (arecoline, pilocarpine or oxotremorine), an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (tacrine or E2020), or nicotine, increased the response latencies for young rats to that of adult levels in a dose-dependent manner (overall dose range = 0.003 microgram/kg-10 mg/kg). Neither the cholinergic antagonists scopolamine, atropine or mecamylamine, nor a series of non-cholinergic drugs, diazepam, haloperidol, phenobarbital, pargyline, D-amphetamine, imipramine, piracetam or N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) increased PAR latencies. When 0.1 mg/kg scopolamine was given to young rats prior to arecoline, the dose-effect curve for enhanced latency times was shifted to the right. Higher doses of scopolamine completely blocked the effects of arecoline. Scopolamine (0.001-1.0 mg/kg) administered subsequent to, rather than before PAR training, blocked the usual arecoline-induced enhancement of response latencies. Alternatively, consolidation could be facilitated with different doses of tacrine (0.0003-10 mg/kg). These results demonstrate that young rats fail to remember the PAR but that retention for this task can be specifically enhanced with cholinomimetic drugs.

PubMedSearch : Smith_1996_Brain.Res_707_13
PubMedID: 8866709

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Citations formats

Smith RD, Kistler MK, Cohen-Williams M, Coffin VL (1996)
Cholinergic improvement of a naturally-occurring memory deficit in the young rat
Brain Research 707 :13

Smith RD, Kistler MK, Cohen-Williams M, Coffin VL (1996)
Brain Research 707 :13