Roland JJ, Stewart AL, Savage LM, Servatius RJ, Pang KCH (2011) Reduced hippocampal acetylcholine efflux after medial septal-diagonal band (MSDB) GABAergic lesion is associated with impaired working memory: behavioral and neurochemical effects of physostigmine. Neuroscience 2011 Abstracts 513.10. Society for Neuroscience, Washington, DC.
Summary: The medial septum provides cholinergic innervation of the hippocampus and changes in hippocampal acetylcholine (ACh) have been tied to memory; deficits and enhancements in memory are correlated with decreases or increases of ACh, respectively. Damage of GABAergic MSDB neurons impaired spatial working memory in a delayed non-match to position task with a 30-s retention interval (DNMTP). Interestingly, lesions reduced maze activated hippocampal ACh efflux, but did not alter basal hippocampal ACh efflux. The current study has two aims. First, is performance impaired and ACh efflux reduced in a non-match to position task (NMTP) with a 0-s retention interval following GABAergic MSDB damage? Second, is performance on DNMTP improved by enhancing hippocampal ACh efflux? Male Sprague-Dawley rats received intraseptal PBS or GAT1-saporin (to damage GABAergic neurons) and a ventral hippocampal microdialysis cannula to assess ACh efflux. In Exp. 1, rats were trained on NMTP for 10 days and received microdialysis on either day 2 (early) or day 9 (late). GAT1-saporin rats were not behaviorally impaired and hippocampal ACh efflux was similar in both treatment groups. These results suggest that performance with a short retention interval (NMTP) is more independent of MSDB influences than training with a long retention interval (DNMTP). Exp. 2 was designed to determine whether the reduced ACh efflux is a critical factor in impaired DNMTP performance in rats with GABAergic MSDB damage. In Exp. 2, all rats will receive 10 day of DNMTP training. On days 8 and 9, rats will be administered (i.c.v.) either saline or the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, physostigmine (5μg/μl). The effects of physostigmine on behavioral performance and hippocampal ACh efflux will be determined. We predict that physostigmine will increase ACh efflux but not improve behavior, suggesting that hippocampal ACh is not important for DNMTP performance. However, support that both MSDB cholinergic and GABAergic neurons are important for DNMTP performance would be seen if physostigmine increases ACh efflux and enhances DNMTP performance. In summary, damage of MSDB GABAergic neurons modulates hippocampal ACh efflux during performance of a working memory task. Whether hippocampal ACh release plays a critical role in impaired working memory will be answered by these studies.
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