title: Chronic, oral aluminum administration to rats: cognition and cholinergic parameters.
abstract: Administration of aluminum sulfate in the drinking water of male Sprague-Dawley rats for thirty days resulted in an impairment of both consolidation and extinction of a passive avoidance task. No impairment of performance was observed on an active avoidance task, radial arm maze or open field activity measure. Biochemical analysis indicated a slight (less than 10%) but significant increase in hippocampal muscarinic receptor number after aluminum treatment as determined by tritiated quinuclidinyl benzilate (3H-QNB) binding. No changes were found in choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity, phosphoinositide hydrolysis, 3H-QNB binding in the cortex or tritiated pirenzepine (3H-PZ) binding in the hippocampus or cortex. These results indicate that cholinergic degeneration was not the cause of the observed cognitive impairments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Birmingham 35294.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Connor
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Jope
authors.forename: L E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Harrell
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000535:Aluminum / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000506:poisoning; D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000187:drug effects*; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D010716:Phosphatidylinositols / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011976:Receptors, Muscarinic / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D010716:Phosphatidylinositols; D011976:Receptors, Muscarinic; D000535:Aluminum; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase