Impairment in T-maze reinforced alternation performance following nucleus basalis magnocellularis lesions in rats.
Rats were trained on a reinforced alternation paradigm using an elevated T-maze. After pre-surgical training subjects received either ibotenic acid (4 micrograms/0.4 microliter) or vehicle (pH 7.4, 0.4 microliter) bilaterally into the region of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis--an important source of neocortical acetylcholine projections. Acetylcholinesterase staining of sectioned brains revealed a loss of neocortical, but not hippocampal staining in lesioned animals. On the T-maze task, lesioned rats showed significantly impaired choice performance relative to controls. They also demonstrated significant side biases, the degree of which was correlated with choice performance deficit.
D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000502:physiology; D000110:Acetylcholinesterase / Q000378:metabolism; D000544:Alzheimer Disease; D000818:Animals; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013377:Substantia Innominata / Q000502:physiology*
D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase; D000110:Acetylcholinesterase; D000109:Acetylcholine