Memory deficits following chronic alcohol consumption in mice: relationships with hippocampal and cortical cholinergic activities.
Chronic ethanol consumption (12% v/v for 12 months) produced an accelerated decay of T-maze spontaneous alternation (SA) rates as the interval that elapsed between forced trials, used as acquisition, and a free test trial, used as a retention test, increased. Thus, alcohol-treated mice that exhibited normal SA rates at a short interval (5 min) were impaired at the longer one (6 h) relative to controls. This alcohol-induced deficit was almost completely reversed by physostigmine (0.05 mg/kg, IP) given only before the test trial. Parallel neurochemical analysis showed that chronic alcohol intake produced a significant decrease in hippocampal and cortical sodium-dependent high-affinity choline uptake. In particular, the significant cholinergic activation produced by a T-maze exploration in controls was attenuated in experimental subjects so that the between-groups differences already present in the quiet condition were amplified in the active (exploration) state. These findings suggest that the memory deficits induced by chronic ethanol consumption stem from a failure of some cholinergic-dependent retrieval processes. An attempt is made to relate the present results with our previous ones that emphasized the importance of diencephalic damage in alcohol-induced retrieval deficits.
Beracochea
D
D
Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Comportementales, URA CNRS 339, Université de Bordeaux 1, Talence, France.
Micheau
J
J
Jaffard
R
R
D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000187:drug effects; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects*; D002794:Choline / Q000378:metabolism; D000431:Ethanol / Q000633:toxicity*; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010275:Parasympathetic Nervous System / Q000187:drug effects*; D010830:Physostigmine / Q000494:pharmacology
D000431:Ethanol; D010830:Physostigmine; D002794:Choline; D000109:Acetylcholine