title: Effects of sodium azide on motor activity, motor coordination, and learning.
abstract: Because of the proposed importance of cytochrome oxidase in some neurological disorders, an inhibitor of this enzyme was evaluated in a battery of tests measuring exploration, motor coordination, and learning. Mice injected with sodium azide (6 or 12 mg/kg) were slower to initiate a response in a T maze and had less rears in a small chamber than mice injected with placebo. Drugged mice did not alternate spontaneously even at a minimal retention interval (0 min), but were not impaired in water maze spatial and visual discrimination learning tasks. No group differences emerged in terms of horizontal motor activity and its habituation, number of grooming episodes, and motor coordination. These results indicate that azide-induced slowing of motor activity is situation-specific and is accompanied by abnormalities in choice behavior in a T maze.
authors.affiliation: University of Montreal, Department of Psychology, Hôtel-Dieu Hospital, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lalonde
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Joyal
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Beaudin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001386:Azides / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006120:Grooming / Q000187:drug effects; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D051379:Mice; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects*; D019810:Sodium Azide
chemical_list: D001386:Azides; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D019810:Sodium Azide; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV