title: Nicotine and D-cycloserine enhance acquisition of water maze spatial navigation in aged rats.
abstract: We investigated the effect of nicotine, a nicotinic agonist, and D-cycloserine (DCS, a partial glycine-B agonist of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor complex) on aging-induced defects of water maze (WM) spatial navigation in rats. Nicotine (0.3 mg kg-1, s.c.) or DCS (10 mg kg-1, i.p.) enhanced acquisition of the WM task. A combination of subthreshold doses of nicotine (0.1 mg kg-1) and DCS (3 mg kg-1) improved WM acquisition. A subthreshold dose of a competitive NMDA antagonist, CPP (1 mg kg-1), blocked the effect of nicotine (0.3 mg kg-1) on WM acquisition. A nicotine antagonist, mecamylamine (10 mg kg-1), impaired WM acquisition and had no effect on retention, but did not block the effect of DCS 10 mg kg-1. The results suggest that nicotine and DCS synergistically enhance spatial navigation in aged rats.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience and Neurology, University of Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Riekkinen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Riekkinen
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D003523:Cycloserine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D008464:Mecamylamine / Q000494:pharmacology; D009538:Nicotine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010879:Piperazines / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000819:agonists; D012016:Reference Values; D013028:Space Perception
chemical_list: D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D010879:Piperazines; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; D008464:Mecamylamine; D009538:Nicotine; D003523:Cycloserine; C050592:3-(2-carboxypiperazin-4-yl)propyl-1-phosphonic acid