Ukairo OT, Arshad S, Gibbs RB, Johnson DA (2003) Selective cholinergic lesion of the medial septum impairs retention but not acquisition of a passive avoidance memory task. Neuroscience 2003 Abstracts 425.16. Society for Neuroscience, New Orleans, LA.
Summary: Infusion of 192 IgG-saporin (SAP) into the medial septum (MS) selectively destroys cholinergic neurons projecting to the hippocampus. This study examined the effect of such lesions on acquisition and retention using a passive avoidance paradigm. Male Sprague-Dawley rats received either SAP (.22 μg in 1 μl) or vehicle directly into the MS. Passive avoidance training began two weeks later. Training consisted of placing an animal into the lighted chamber of the apparatus and then delivering footshock (.75 mA, 1 sec.) when the animal moved into the adjacent darkened chamber. Training was repeated until animals avoided the dark chamber for 2 consecutive trials of 5 min. duration. Retention (latency to enter the dark chamber) was tested 1 week later. Results showed no effect of SAP lesion on the number of trials necessary to acquire avoidance behavior. In contrast, SAP-lesioned animals showed a significant impairment in retention, as evidenced by a 72% decrease in crossover latency one week following training. These results suggest that selective destruction of cholinergic septo-hippocampal projections impairs retention, but not acquisition, of passive avoidance behavior to aversive stimuli.
Related Products: 192-IgG-SAP (Cat. #IT-01)