title: Parafascicular electrical stimulation attenuates nucleus basalis magnocellularis lesion-induced active avoidance retention deficit.
abstract: Previous experiments from our laboratory showed that retention of two-way active avoidance learning is improved by post-training intracranial electrical stimulation (ICS) of the parafascicular nucleus (PF) and impaired by pre-training electrolytic lesions of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM). The question investigated here was whether post-training PF ICS is able to attenuate the active avoidance retention deficit observed in rats lesioned pre-training in the NBM. To this goal, the following experimental design was used: rats bilaterally lesioned in the NBM and stimulated in the PF, rats lesioned in the NBM, rats stimulated in the PF, control rats implanted in the PF, and sham-operated rats were first trained in a shuttle-box for a single 30-trial session and tested again following two successive retention intervals (24 h and 11 days). The results showed that: (1) NBM lesions impaired the 11-day performance without affecting either the acquisition or the 24-h retention of the avoidance learning; (2) PF ICS treatment in unlesioned rats improved performance in both retention sessions only when the stimulation was applied in the posterior region of the nucleus; and (3) stimulation of the posterior PF compensated the 11-day retention impairment induced by NBM lesions. These results are discussed in relation to the interaction of arousal systems in the modulation of cognitive processes.
authors.affiliation: Departament de Psicobiologia i de Metodologia de les Ciències de la Salut, Facultat de Psicologia, Edifici B, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Hermenegildo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sos-Hinojosa
authors.forename: Gemma
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guillazo-Blanch
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vale-Martínez
authors.forename: Roser
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nadal
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Morgado-Bernal
authors.forename: Margarita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martí-Nicolovius
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D020532:Basal Nucleus of Meynert / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000293:injuries / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D020646:Intralaminar Thalamic Nuclei / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D013238:Stereotaxic Techniques; D013997:Time Factors