Summary
Young rats 10–30 days of age received bilateral injections of antinicotinic and/or nicotinic agents into the lateral (L), the basolateral (BL), or the cortical (CO) amygdaloid nucleus, and were trained to learn a cool-draft stimulus passive-avoidance task, 17 min later. Mecamylamine produced age-and dose-dependent acquisition deficits; these deficits appeared on day 11, increased similarly after injections into any of the three nuclei until day 16, and decreased thereafter, more rapidly after administration into CO nucleus than after injections into L and BL nuclei. In the latter nucleus, the deficits had nearly disappeared on day 30. Nicotine injected alone induced slight facilitatory effects, significant at 20 days but not reliable at earlier stages. However, nicotine could hinder the antagonistic effects of mecamylamine, when given in combination, as early as the 11th day of age on. The results suggest the existence of nicotinic synaptic elements in the basal lateral part of the rat amygdala; however, these seem to play an important role in passive avoidance learning only during the early stages of ontogenesis.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Blozovski D (1979) P.A.-learning in young rat with dorsal hippocampal-and hippocampal-entorhinal atropine. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 10: 369–372
Blozovski D (1983) Deficits in passive avoidance learning in young rats following mecamylamine injections in the hippocampoentorhinal area. Exp Brain Res 50: 442–448
Blozovski D (1985) Mediation of passive-avoidance learning by nicotinic hippocampo-entorhinal components in young rats. Dev Psychobiol 18: 355–366
Blozovski D, Duméry V (1984) Implication of amygdaloid muscarinic cholinergic mechanisms in passive avoidance learning in the developing rat. Behav Brain Res 13: 97–106
Blozovski D, Cudennec A, Garrigou D (1977) Deficits in passive avoidance learning following atropine in the developing rat. Psychopharmacology 54: 139–143
Blozovski D, Hennocq N (1982) Effects of antimuscarinic cholinergic drugs injected systematically or into the hippocampo-entorhinal area upon passive avoidance learning in young rats. Psychopharmacology 76: 351–358
Carlton PL, Markiewicz B (1971) Behavioral effects of atropine and scopolamine. In: Furchgott E (ed) Pharmacological and biophysical agents and behavior. Academic Press, New York, pp 345–373
Delhaye-Bouchaud N, Crepel F, Mariani J (1975) Mise en évidence d'une multi-innervation temporaire des cellules de Purkinje du cervelet par les fibres grimpantes au cours du développement chez le rat. C R Acad Sci (Paris) 281: 909–912
Duméry V, Blozovski D (1987) Development of amygdaloid cholinergic mediation of passive avoidance learning in the rat. I. Muscarinic mechanisms. Exp Brain Res 67:61–69
Feigley DA (1974) Effects of scopolamine on activity and passive avoidance learning in rats of different ages. J Comp Physiol Psychol 87: 26–36
Fisher RA, Yates F (1953) Statistical tables for biological, agricultural and medical research. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh
Lamour Y, Dutar P, Jobert A (1982a) Excitatory effect of acetylcholine on different types of neurons in the first somatosensory neocortex of the rat: laminar distribution and pharmacological characteristics. Neuroscience 7: 1483–1494
Lamour Y, Dutar P, Jobert A (1982b) Spread of acetylcholine sensitivity in the neocortex following lesion of the nucleus basalis. Brain Res 252: 377–381
Mariani J (1983) Elimination of synapses during the development of the central nervous system. In: Changeux JP, Glowinsky J, Imbert M, Bloom FE (eds) Molecular and cellular interactions underlying higher brain functions. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 383–391
Salvaterra PM, Moore WJ (1973) Binding of (125I) α-bungarotoxin to particulate fractions of rat and guinea pig brain. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 55: 1311–1318
Segal M, Dudai Y, Amsterdam A (1978) Distribution of an α-bungarotoxin-binding cholinergic nicotinic receptor in rat brain. Brain Res 178: 105–119
Sherwood NM, Timiras PS (1970) A stereotaxic atlas of the developing rat brain. Univ Calif Press, California
Wilson LM, Riccio DC (1976) Scopolamine's effect on passive avoidance behavior in immature rats. Dev Psychobiol 9: 245–254
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Blozovski, D., Duméry, V. Development of amygdaloid cholinergic mediation of passive avoidance learning in the rat. Exp Brain Res 67, 70–76 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00269454
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00269454