Abstract
Administration of aluminum sulfate in the drinking water of male Sprague-Dawley rats for thirty days resulted in an impairment of both consolidation and extinction of a passive avoidance task. No impairment of performance was observed on an active avoidance task, radial arm maze or open field activity measure. Biochemical analysis indicated a slight (<10%) but significant increase in hippocampal muscarinic receptor number after aluminum treatment as determined by tritiated quinuclidinyl benzilate (3H-QNB) binding. No changes were found in choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity, phosphoinositide hydrolysis, 3H-QNB binding in the cortex or tritiated pirenzepine (3H-PZ) binding in the hippocampus or cortex. These results indicate that cholinergic degeneration was not the cause of the observed cognitive impairments.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 467-474 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior |
Volume | 31 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 1988 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Active avoidance
- Aluminum
- Behavior
- Muscarinic
- Neurotoxin
- Passive avoidance
- Phosphoinositides
- Radial arm maze
- Rats
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biochemistry
- Behavioral Neuroscience
- Pharmacology