Effects of an Agonist and an Antagonist of α4b2-n-Cholinoreceptors on Learning in Female Rats in the Main Phases of the Estral Cycle

Autor: Yu. O. Fedotova
Rok vydání: 2015
Předmět:
Zdroj: Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology. 45:946-951
ISSN: 1573-899X
0097-0549
DOI: 10.1007/s11055-015-0168-7
Popis: The studies reported here provide a comparative analysis of the involvement of α4β2-n-cholinoreceptors in conditioned reflex activity in adult female rats during cyclic changes in sex hormone levels. The effects of chronic administration (14 days) of the α4β2-n-cholinoreceptor agonist RJR-2403 (1.0 mg/kg, i.p.) and the α4β2-n-cholinoreceptor antagonist mecamylamine (1.0 mg/kg, i.p.) on conditioned reflex activity were studied using models of spatial and nonspatial learning in female rats at different phases of the estral cycle. Nonspatial learning processes were evaluated using a conditioned passive avoidance reflex and spatial learning processes using the Morris water maze. Administration of RJR-2403 improved acquisition of the passive avoidance reflex in females in proestrus and estrus, as compared with control rats. Similarly, use of RJR-2403 restored the spatial learning ability of females in proestrus and had a stimulatory effect on the dynamics of spatial learning in estrus in the Morris water test. Conversely, chronic administration of mecamylamine impaired nonspatial and especially spatial learning in females independently of the phase of the estral cycle. The results obtained here provide evidence that stimulation of α4β2-n-cholinoreceptors has positive influences on conditioned reflex learning in female rats in different phases of the estral cycle.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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