Butt AE, Noble MM, Barrett H, Brinegar S, Hixon A, Kester B, Levey D, Rea T, Ryan M, Schulze S, Vogel L (2001) 192 IgG saporin lesions of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis impair working but not reference memory in a delayed non-match-to-position y-maze task. Neuroscience 2001 Abstracts 314.17. Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.
Summary: The current experiment tests the hypothesis that the cortically projecting cholinergic neurons of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) are selectively involved in working and not reference memory. Male Long-Evans rats received extensive pre-operative training in a delayed non-match-to-position (DNMTP) task in a Y-maze. In this task, 0-s, 1-min, or 2-min delays were interposed between consistently food-reinforced “sample runs”, where rats were allowed access to only one arm of the maze, and “choice runs”, where rats were allowed access to both arms of the maze but were reinforced only for entering the arm opposite that entered on the previous sample run. Upon completion of pre-operative training, rats were matched for performance and were randomly assigned to a sham lesion group or to the NBM lesion group, which received bilateral infusions of the cholinergic immunotoxin 192 IgG-saporin into the NBM. As predicted, post-operative performance in the NBM lesion group was normal at the 0-s delay but was severely impaired at the 1-min and 2-min delays. Results suggest that the NBM is critically involved in supporting normal spatial working memory but that previously acquired reference memory for the non-matching rule remains intact following selective NBM lesions.
Related Products: 192-IgG-SAP (Cat. #IT-01)