title: The effects of the D2 dopamine receptor antagonist, eticlopride, on attention following bilateral vestibular deafferentation in the rat.
abstract: Loss of vestibular function has been associated with cognitive impairment, including attentional problems. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the D(2) dopamine receptor antagonist, eticlopride (0.02, 0.04 and 0.06 mg/kg; s.c.), on attention and impulsivity in rats at 2 months following bilateral vestibular deafferentation (BVD), using a 5 choice serial reaction time task (5CSRTT). The levels of the D(2) receptor protein in the frontal cortex were measured at 1 and 6 months post-BVD using western blotting. Eticlopride caused a dose-dependent decrease in response in the 5CSRTT, which was greater for sham than for BVD rats in terms of the percentage of correct responses and the number of perseverative responses. There were no changes in the amount of the D(2) receptor in the frontal cortex at 1 or 6 months post-BVD; however, D(2) receptor levels were significantly higher on the right side than the left in both sham and BVD animals. These results suggest that BVD causes an increase in perseverative behaviour that D(2) receptor blockade does not eliminate, but that D(2) receptors in the frontal cortex are unchanged.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Medical Sciences, and the Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago Medical School, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Lucy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stiles
authors.forename: Yiwen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Cynthia L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Darlington
authors.forename: Paul F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D015153:Blotting, Western; D018492:Dopamine Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D065127:Dopamine D2 Receptor Antagonists; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012457:Salicylamides / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D018492:Dopamine Antagonists; D065127:Dopamine D2 Receptor Antagonists; D012457:Salicylamides; C045989:eticlopride