title: Modulation of hippocampus-dependent learning and synaptic plasticity by nicotine.
abstract: A long-standing relationship between nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) and cognition exists. Drugs that act at nAChRs can have cognitive-enhancing effects and diseases that disrupt cognition such as Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia are associated with altered nAChR function. Specifically, hippocampus-dependent learning is particularly sensitive to the effects of nicotine. However, the effects of nicotine on hippocampus-dependent learning vary not only with the doses of nicotine used and whether nicotine is administered acutely, chronically, or withdrawn after chronic nicotine treatment but also vary across different hippocampus-dependent tasks such as the Morris water maze, the radial arm maze, and contextual fear conditioning. In addition, nicotine has variable effects across different types of hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP). Because different types of hippocampus-dependent learning and LTP involve different neural and molecular substrates, comparing the effects of nicotine across these paradigms can yield insights into the mechanisms that may underlie the effects of nicotine on learning and memory and aid in understanding the variable effects of nicotine on cognitive processes. This review compares and contrasts the effects of nicotine on hippocampus-dependent learning and LTP and briefly discusses how the effects of nicotine on learning could contribute to nicotine addiction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Center for Substance Abuse Research, Weiss Hall, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA.
authors.forename: Justin W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kenney
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Gould
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D017774:Long-Term Potentiation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D009538:Nicotine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic / Q000378:metabolism; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders
chemical_list: D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic; D009538:Nicotine