Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
1
pubmed:dateCreated
1995-7-28
pubmed:abstractText
To investigate further the cholinergic specificity of the effects of basal forebrain lesion-induced disruption of attentional performance, the present study examined the efficacy of various pharmacological agents in improving performance of a five-choice serial reaction time task in rats that had received lesions of the cholinergic basal forebrain. Specifically, the effects of the novel 5-HT3 receptor antagonist, ondansetron (0.3, 1, 10 ng/kg), and of nicotine (0.03, 0.06, 0.1, 0.3 mg/kg) and the anticholinesterase, physostigmine (0.05, 0.1 mg/kg), on attentional function were examined in animals which had received AMPA-induced lesions of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (nbM). The behavioural impairments observed immediately following the lesion were a reduction were choice accuracy and an increase in correct response latency. Although these impairments showed recovery over the course of the following weeks, the deficit in choice accuracy could be reinstated by reducing the duration of the visual stimulus and thus increasing the attentional load placed on the animals. This reduction in choice accuracy could be dose dependently improved by systemic administration of either physostigmine or nicotine, suggesting that this impairment in attentional function may be attributed to disruption of cholinergic function. The pharmacological specificity of these improvements was supported by the inability of d-amphetamine to improve task performance (0.2, 0.4, 0.8 mg/kg). Ondansetron was also unable to improve accuracy of performance in lesioned animals, but was effective in reducing the anticipatory or premature responding observed in both control and lesioned animals, even when elevated (in the case of controls) by treatment with systemic d-amphetamine. The results of the present study therefore suggest that cholinergic dysfunction can lead to attentional impairments which can be ameliorated by cholinergic treatments such as physostigmine and nicotine, but that ondansetron, despite its proposed ability to release cortical acetylcholine, was unable to restore choice accuracy at the doses employed. The results further suggest a double dissociation of effects on accuracy and the disinhibition of responding.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Mar
pubmed:issn
0033-3158
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
118
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
82-92
pubmed:dateRevised
2009-9-29
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1995
pubmed:articleTitle
Reversal of visual attentional dysfunction following lesions of the cholinergic basal forebrain by physostigmine and nicotine but not by the 5-HT3 receptor antagonist, ondansetron.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, UK.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Comparative Study, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't