title: An assessment and comparison of the effects of oxotremorine, D-cycloserine, and bicuculline on delayed matching-to-sample performance in rats.
abstract: The effects of a muscarinic antagonist (scopolamine), a muscarinic agonist (oxotremorine), an agonist at the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor site (D-cycloserine), and a GABAa antagonist (bicuculline) on working memory were compared using rats performing a delayed matching-to-sample task. When administered on their own, oxotremorine, D-cycloserine, and bicuculline had no effect on performance in the current task. When administered concurrently with scopolamine, oxotremorine (at 1 dose) and bicuculline (at 2 doses) improved accuracy (in terms of percentage correct) by ameliorating the scopolamine-induced increase in response bias. None of the drugs, however, were successful in ameliorating the scopolamine-induced impairment in bias-free recognition performance per se (as measured by Log d). Therefore, none of the drugs examined were able to fully ameliorate all aspects of the memory impairment caused by scopolamine.
authors.affiliation: Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. david.harper@vuw.ac.nz
authors.forename: D N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Harper
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D001640:Bicuculline / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003523:Cycloserine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018756:GABA Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D058787:GABA-A Receptor Antagonists; D008297:Male; D018721:Muscarinic Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018727:Muscarinic Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D010095:Oxotremorine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012601:Scopolamine / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D018756:GABA Antagonists; D058787:GABA-A Receptor Antagonists; D018721:Muscarinic Agonists; D018727:Muscarinic Antagonists; D010095:Oxotremorine; D003523:Cycloserine; D012601:Scopolamine; D001640:Bicuculline