Abstract
Previous research has shown that 15-day-old rats are quite poor at associating temporally separated events. However, by 17 days of age, this capability has improved substantially (Moye and Rudy 1987a). In the present study, the centrally active anticholinesterase physostigmine was found to enhance the ability of 15-day-olds to associate a tone conditioned stimulus (CS) with a shock unconditioned stimulus (US) when these events were separated by a 10-s trace interval. In effect, the drug produced trace conditioning performance similar to that observed in older animals. We suggest that performance in the trace conditioning task requires the development of associative memory processes that allow the young rat to retain a representation of a CS over time. Furthermore, the enhancement of trace conditioning by physostigmine indicates that central cholinergic maturation is an important factor in the expression of associative memory.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aigner TG, Mishkin M (1986) The effects of physostigmine and scopolamine on recognition memory in monkeys. Behav Neural Biol 45:81–87
Alpern HP, Marriott J (1973) Short-term memory: facilitation and disruption with cholinergic agents. Physiol Behav 11:571–575
Bartus RT (1979) Physostigmine and recent memory: effects in young and aged nonhuman primates. Science 206:1087–1087
Bartus RT, Dean RL, Beer B, Lippa AS (1982) The cholinergic hypothesis of geriatric memory dysfunction. Science 217:408–416
Coyle JT, Yamamura HI (1976) Neurochemical aspects of the ontogenesis of cholinergic neurons in the rat brain. Brain Res 118:429–440
Coyle JT, Prince DL, DeLong MR (1983) Alzheimer's disease: a disorder of cortical cholinergic innervation. Science 219:1184–1190
Drachman DA, Leavitt J (1974) Human memory and the cholinergic system. Arch Neurol 30:113–121
Dunnett SB (1985) Comparative effects of cholinergic drugs and lesions of nucleus basalis or fimbria-fornix on delayed matching in rats. Psychopharmacology 87:357–363
Feldman RS, Quenzer LF (1984) Fundamentals of neuropsychopharmacology. Sinauer Associates, Massachusetts
Flicker C, Dean RL, Watkins DL, Fisher SK, Bartus RT (1983) Behavioral and neurochemical effects following neurotoxic lesions of a major cholinergic input to the cerebral cortex in the rat. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 18:973–981
Graves CA, Solomon PR (1985) Age-related disruption of trace but not delay classical conditioning of the rabbits' nictitating membrane response. Behav Neurosci 99:88–96
Hebb DO (1949) Organization of behavior, a neuropsychological theory. Wiley, New York
Hepler DJ, Olton DS, Wenk GL, Coyle JT (1985) Lesions in nucle us basalis magnocellularis and medial septal area of rats produce qualitatively similar memory impairments. J Neurosci 5:866–873
Hurlbut BJ, Lubar JF, Switzer R, Dougherty J, Eisenstadt ML (1987) Basal forebrain infusion of HC-3 in rats: maze learning deficits and neuropathology. Physiol Behav 39:381–393
James GO, Hardiman MJ, Yeo CH (1987) Hippocampal lesions and trace conditioning in the rabbit. Behav Brain Res 23:109–116
Johnston MV (1985) Neurotransmitters. In: Wiggins RC, McCandless DW, Enna SJ (eds) Developmental neurochemistry. University of Texas Press, Austin, pp 193–224
Kamin LJ (1965) Temporal and intensity characteristics of the conditioned stimulus. In: Prokasy WF (ed) Classical conditioning. Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, pp 118–147
Lehmann J, Nagy JI, Atmadja S, Fibiger HC (1980) The nucleus basalis magnocellularis: the origin of a cholinergic projection to the neocortex of the rat. Neuroscience 5:1161–1174
Lewis PR, Shute CD (1967) The cholinergic limbic system: projections to hippocampal formation, medial cortex, nuclei of the ascending cholinergic reticular system and the subfornical organ and supraoptic crest. Brain 90:521–539
Moye TB, Rudy JW (1985) Ontogenesis of learning: VI. Learned and unlearned responses to visual stimulation in the infant hooded rat. Dev Psychobiol 18:395–409
Moye TB, Rudy JW (1987a) Ontogenesis of trace conditioning in young rats: dissociation of associative and memory processes. Dev Psychobiol 20:405–414
Moye TB, Rudy JW (1987b) Visually mediated trace conditioning in young rats: evidence for cholinergic involvement in the development of associative memory. Psychobiol 15:128–136
Murray CL, Fibiger HC (1985) Learning and memory deficits after lesions of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis: reversal by physostigmine. Neuroscience 14:1025–1032
Nicoll RA (1985) The septo-hippocampal projection: a model cholinergic pathway. Trends Neurosci 8:533–536
Pavlov IP (1927) Conditioned reflexes (GV Anrep, trans). Oxford University Press, London
Penetar D, McDonough J (1983) Effects of cholinergic drugs on delayed match-to-sample performance of rhesus monkeys. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 19:963–967
Port RL, Romano AG, Steinmetz JE, Mikhail AA, Patterson MM (1986) Retention and acquisition of classical trace conditioned responses by rabbits with hippocampal lesions. Behav Neurosci 100:745–752
Revusky S (1971) The role of interference in association over a delay. In: Honig WK, James PR (eds) Animal memory. Academic Press, New York, pp 155–213
Solomon PR, Vander Schaaf ER, Thompson RF, Weisz DJ (1986) Hippocampus and trace conditioning of the rabbit's classically conditioned nictitating membrane response. Behav Neurosci 100:729–744
Summers WK, Majovski LV, Marsh GM, Tachiki K, Kling A (1986) Oral tetrahydroaminoacridine in long-term treatment of senile dementia, Alzheimer type. N Engl J Med 315:1241–1245
Telang SD, Enna SJ (1985) Ontogenetic development of central nervous system neurotransmitter receptors. In: Wiggins RC, McCandless DW, Enna SJ (eds) Developmental neurochemistry University of Texas Press, Austin, pp 225–247
Watson JS (1984) Memory in learning: analysis of three momentary reactions of infants. In: Kail R, Spear NE (eds) Comparative perspectives on the development of memory. Hillsdale, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, pp 159–179
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Moye, T.B., Vanderryn, J. Physostigmine accelerates the development of associative memory processes in the infant rat. Psychopharmacology 95, 401–406 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00181956
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00181956