title: Differential effects of bupropion on acquisition and performance of an active avoidance task in male mice.
abstract: Bupropion is an antidepressant drug that is known to aid smoking cessation, although little experimental evidence exists about its actions on active avoidance learning tasks. Our aim was to evaluate the effects of this drug on two-way active avoidance conditioning. In this study, NMRI mice received bupropion (10, 20 and 40mg/kg) or saline before a daily training session (learning phase, days 1-4) in the active avoidance task. Performance was evaluated on the fifth day (retention phase): in each bupropion-treated group half of the mice continued with the same dose of bupropion, and the other half received saline. Among the vehicle-treated mice, different sub-groups were challenged with different doses of bupropion. Results indicated that mice treated with 10 and 20mg/kg bupropion exhibited more number of avoidances during acquisition. The response latency confirmed this learning improvement, since this parameter decreased after bupropion administration. No differences between groups were observed in the retention phase. In conclusion, our data show that bupropion influences the learning process during active avoidance conditioning, suggesting that this drug can improve the control of emotional responses.
authors.affiliation: Departamento Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universitat de València, Blasco Ibañez, 21, Valencia 46010, Spain. Electronic address: m.carmen.gomez@uv.es.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Gómez
authors.affiliation: Departamento Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universitat de València, Blasco Ibañez, 21, Valencia 46010, Spain. Electronic address: rosa.redolat@uv.es.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Redolat
authors.affiliation: Departamento Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universitat de València, Blasco Ibañez, 21, Valencia 46010, Spain. Electronic address: carmen.carrasco@uv.es.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Carrasco
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D016642:Bupropion / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis
chemical_list: D016642:Bupropion
keywords: Active avoidance; Bupropion; Learning; Memory; Mice