Fitz NF, Gibbs RB, Johnson DA (2003) Arousal enhances delayed match to position T-maze performance independent of septo-hippocampal cholinergic projections. Neuroscience 2003 Abstracts 425.17. Society for Neuroscience, New Orleans, LA.
Summary: Infusion of the selective cholinergic immunotoxin, 192 IgG-saporin (SAP) into the medial septum (MS) of rats selectively lesions cholinergic neurons projecting to the hippocampus and impairs acquisition of a delayed matching to position (DMP) T-maze task. The intent of the present study was to determine if enhanced performance associated with arousal is dependent on septo-hippocampal cholinergic projections. Male Sprague-Dawley rats received MS infusions of SAP 0.22 µg in 1µl or vehicle. Fourteen days later, animals were trained on the DMP spatial memory task. SAP and control animals were randomized into an “arousal” group that was injected with saline (IP; 1 ml/Kg) 30 min before testing each day or a “non-arousal” group that was not. SAP lesions significantly impaired acquisition of the DMP task in both the arousal and non-arousal groups. Conversely, arousal significantly enhanced acquisition in both control and SAP lesioned rats. There was no significant interaction between the effects of cholinergic lesions and arousal. These results suggest that septo-hippocampal cholinergic projections are not engaged in enhanced spatial learning mediated by arousal.
Related Products: 192-IgG-SAP (Cat. #IT-01)