Abstract
Focal cerebral ischemia in the rat has traditionally been studied by examining the consequences of middle-cerebral artery occlusion. However, the anterior-cerebral arteries of the rat may now also be bilaterally occluded by stereotaxic injection of the vasoconstrictor endothelin-1, resulting in ischemic damage to medial prefrontal cortex and the anteromedial basal forebrain. The behavioural consequences of anterior-cerebral artery occlusion (ACAo) were studied in two experiments using simple and choice reaction-time tasks designed to dissociate response impairments from dysfunction of motivation and attention, respectively. Following ACAo, reaction-time increased post-surgery in the choice, but not simple reaction-time task. There was also an increase in incorrect choices in the choice reaction-time task. However, the impairments were independent of motivational or attentional function, which remained intact. Although the ACAo-induced ischemic damage did not disrupt motivation or attention, the results suggest that the lesion results in an executive impairment in selecting and initiating responses.
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Received: 2 October 1997 / Accepted: 28 May 1998
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Ward, N., Sharkey, J., Marston, H. et al. Simple and choice reaction-time performance following occlusion of the anterior cerebral arteries in the rat. Exp Brain Res 123, 269–281 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002210050569
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002210050569