Chronic nicotine exposure has dissociable behavioural effects on control and beta2-/- mice.
Nicotine exerts beneficial effects on various neurological and psychiatric pathologies, yet its effects on cognitive performance remain unclear. Mice lacking the beta2 subunit of the nicotinic receptor (beta2-/-) show characteristic deficits in executive functions and are suggested as reliable animal models for some specific endophenotypes of human pathologies, notably ADHD. We use beta2-/- and their controls to investigate the consequences of chronic nicotine exposure on cognitive behaviour. We show that in control mice, this treatment elicits somewhat slight effects, particularly affecting nocturnal activity and self-grooming. By contrast, in beta2-/- mice, chronic nicotine treatment had restorative effects on exploratory behaviour in the open-field and affected rearing, but did not modify motor functions. We confirmed that beta2-/- mice exhibit impaired exploratory and social behaviour, and further demonstrated their nocturnal hyperactivity. These data support the proposal that beta2-/- mice represent a relevant model for cognitive disorders in humans and that nicotine administered chronically at low dose may relieve some of these.
Besson
Morgane
M
Unité Neurobiologie Intégrative des Systèmes Cholinergiques, Department of Neuroscience and CNRS URA2182, Institut Pasteur, 25 rue du Dr. Roux, Paris 75015, France.
Suarez
Sandra
S
Cormier
Anne
A
Changeux
Jean-Pierre
JP
Granon
Sylvie
S
D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000235:genetics; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000235:genetics; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009538:Nicotine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D012919:Social Behavior; D013997:Time Factors
D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; D009538:Nicotine; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic