Brief ganglioside treatment produces delayed enhancement of functional recovery after medial septal lesions.
The effects of a 5-day ganglioside (GM1) treatment (30 mg/kg) on body weight and water intake subsequent to medial septal lesions were evaluated for 44 consecutive days. In addition, activity, rearing, and repetitive motor acts were measured on postsurgery days 5, 10, 40, and 60. The rate of increase in the body weights of rats with medial septal lesions treated with GM1 was equivalent to that of controls, while untreated rats with such lesions had reduced body weights. Rats with medial septal lesions treated with GM1 also exhibited movement times and frequency of repetitious motor acts similar to those of control rats by postsurgery day 60. No differences were found in water intake between any of the groups. Rats with medial septal lesions, whether treated with GM1 or not, had equivalent frequencies of rearings that were lower than control rats. This study emphasizes that even brief regimes of GM1 administration can exert behavioral changes in brain-damaged rats well after the treatment was administered, i.e. 40-60 days after surgery.
Poplawsky
A
A
Department of Psychology, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania 17815.
Isaacson
R L
RL
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D005677:G(M1) Ganglioside / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012688:Septum Pellucidum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
D005677:G(M1) Ganglioside