The effects of selective alpha-2 adrenergic agents on the performance of rats in a 5-choice serial reaction time task.
The present study investigated how the systemic administration of alpha-2 adrenergic agents that modulate the function of the noradrenergic system in brain, affect rousal and sustained attention. Food-deprivated rats were trained to detect and respond to brief flashes of light presented randomly in one of five spatially diverse locations. The effects of single-dose administrations of dexmedetomidine, an alpha-2 agonist, and atipamezole, an alpha-2 antagonists, on the choice accuracy, errors of omissions, speed of responding, and collection of the reward could be assessed in this task. Dexmedetomidine increased the amount of omissions, speed of response, and decreased the number of premature responses, although it did not markedly lengthen response latencies and food collection latency. Atipamezole increased the number of premature responses. Neither dexmedetomidine nor atipamezole had any effect on choice accuracy of rats in this task. The results suggest that dexmedetomidine decreased behavioral activity and arousal of rats, whereas atipamezole had mild stimulant effect on behavior.
Department of Neurology, University of Kuopio, Finland.
J
J
Sirviö
M
M
Mazurkiewicz
A
A
Haapalinna
P
P
Riekkinen
H
H
Lahtinen
P J
PJ
Riekkinen
D058647:Adrenergic alpha-2 Receptor Agonists; D058669:Adrenergic alpha-2 Receptor Antagonists; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001143:Arousal / Q000187:drug effects; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D007093:Imidazoles / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D020926:Medetomidine; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects*
D058647:Adrenergic alpha-2 Receptor Agonists; D058669:Adrenergic alpha-2 Receptor Antagonists; D007093:Imidazoles; C050701:atipamezole; D020926:Medetomidine