title: The effects of prefrontal intracortical microinjections of an alpha-2 agonist, alpha-2 antagonist and lidocaine on the delayed alternation performance of aged rats.
abstract: A selective alpha-2 agonist medetomidine, a selective alpha-2 antagonist atipamezole and lidocaine were injected into the prefrontal cortex of aged rats that had been trained to perform a delayed alternation (DA) task in a T maze. Medetomidine at the dose of 0.01 microgram/microliter improved the memory task performance in four of five rats. The fifth rat improved its performance at the dose of 1.0 microgram/microliter. Atipamezole did not have any effect on the task performance. The effect of a systemic dose of medetomidine (3 micrograms/kg), which was previously shown to improve the task performance in old rats, was reversed by an intracortical injection of atipamezole. Lidocaine impaired the DA performance significantly. The results suggest that the beneficial effects of medetomidine on the working memory of old rats are mediated at least partly through the prefrontal cortex.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanila
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rämä
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carlson
mesh_terms: D000316:Adrenergic alpha-Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D000317:Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D007093:Imidazoles / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008012:Lidocaine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D020926:Medetomidine; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D008845:Microinjections / Q000379:methods; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013028:Space Perception / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000316:Adrenergic alpha-Agonists; D000317:Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists; D007093:Imidazoles; C050701:atipamezole; D008012:Lidocaine; D020926:Medetomidine