On the involvement of the central cholinergic system in memory deficits induced by long term ethanol consumption in mice.
Male mice of the BALB/c strain were given a solution of 12% v/v ethanol as their only source of fluid for 7 months. Memory performance was tested after ethanol was omitted from the diet for 3 to 9 weeks, and was compared with performance of control animals (no ethanol) which had been pair-fed or had received tap water. The spontaneous alternation task that was used consisted of two forced trials (acquisition) followed, at varying intervals ranging from 30 sec to 6 hr, by a free test trial (retention). Experimental subjects exhibited an accelerated rate of decay of spontaneous alternation, reaching chance level at 6 hours. All animals were then tested at this 6-hour interval following injections of either physostigmine or neostigmine that were given before both acquisition and retention (0.05 mg/kg IP). Results showed that physostigmine, but not neostigmine, dramatically improved performance of alcohol-treated subjects. Parallel neurochemical analysis showed that chronic ethanol treatment induced a slight (12%) but significant decrease in hippocampal sodium-dependent high affinity choline uptake. Though these findings suggest that the observed memory deficits (i.e., an accelerated rate of forgetting) might be related to a cholinergic dysfunction, alternative explanations are also proposed.
Beracochea
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D
Durkin
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Jaffard
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R
D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications*; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000187:drug effects; D002794:Choline / Q000378:metabolism; D002149:Energy Intake / Q000187:drug effects; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism; D007700:Kinetics; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010275:Parasympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D010830:Physostigmine / Q000494:pharmacology; D012964:Sodium / Q000502:physiology; D013574:Synaptosomes / Q000378:metabolism
D012964:Sodium; D010830:Physostigmine; D002794:Choline