The effect of scopolamine in older rabbits tested in the 750 ms delay eyeblink classical conditioning procedure.
We investigated the effect of several doses of scopolamine in older rabbits that were trained for 20 days in the 750 ms delay eyeblink classical conditioning procedure. Our aim was to determine if the scopolamine-injected older rabbit would be a useful model for testing drugs for cognition enhancement in Alzheimer's disease (AD). A total of 39 rabbits with a mean age of 31 months received classical eyeblink conditioning with daily injections of 0.25, 0.75, or 1.5 mg/kg scopolamine hydrobromide or sterile saline vehicle. Doses of 0.75 and 1.5 mg/kg scopolamine significantly impaired acquisition, whereas acquisition was not significantly impaired with 0.25 mg/kg scopolamine. Results exhibit parallels in performance on delay eyeblink classical conditioning between scopolamine-treated older rabbits and human patients diagnosed with AD.
Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Albert Einstein Healthcare Network, Philadelphia, PA, USA. woodrufd@.einstein.edu
Diana S
DS
Woodruff-Pak
John T
JT
Green
Jonathan T
JT
Pak
Boris
B
Heifets
Michelle H
MH
Pak
D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000523:psychology; D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D003215:Conditioning, Eyelid / Q000187:drug effects*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D018727:Muscarinic Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011817:Rabbits; D012601:Scopolamine / Q000494:pharmacology*
D018727:Muscarinic Antagonists; D012601:Scopolamine