Post-trial injection of atropine into the caudate nucleus interferes with long-term but not with short-term retention of passive avoidance.
One-trial passive avoidance training was given to Wistar rats and retention of the task was measured 30 min and 24 h later. Atropine (60 micrograms) was injected into the anterior caudate nucleus 2 min after training. Excellent retention was evident 30 min after training, whereas a significant deficit in memory was found when retention was tested 24 h after training. These results suggest that blockade of cholinergic activity of the caudate nucleus induced shortly after training interferes with the consolidation of long-term memory but not with short-term memory processes.
D000818:Animals; D001285:Atropine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects*
D001285:Atropine