Effect of N omega-nitro-L-arginine on working memory of rats in eight-arm maze task.
OBJECTIVE
To study the effect of N omega-nitro-L-arginine (NNA) (a NO synthase inhibitor) on memory in the rats.


METHODS
A delayed non-match-to-sample (DNMTS) eight-arm maze task was used to study spatial working memory.


RESULTS
Intraperitoneal injection of NNA 100 mg kg-1 before the trial or at the start of the delay did not affect the accuracy, while pretraining administration of scopolamine 0.25 mg kg-1 produced impairment in mnemonic performance as evidenced by fewer correct choices after the delay and more total errors to complete the task. Intracerebroventricular infusion of NNA (10, 50, 100 nmol) did not affect the accuracy.


CONCLUSIONS
A single ip or icv injection of NNA is not sufficient to alter the memory formation and use in this DNMTS eight-arm maze task.
Xiong
Z Q
ZQ
Department of Pharmacology, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Tang
X C
XC
D000818:Animals; D001120:Arginine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D007274:Injections, Intraperitoneal; D007276:Injections, Intraventricular; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D019335:Nitroarginine; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
D019335:Nitroarginine; D001120:Arginine