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Lecithin and arecoline improve the passive avoidance behavior in the nucleus basalis lesioned rats

A major source of extrinsic cholinergic innervation of the cerebral cortex in rats are magnocellular neurons of basal forebrain, lying ventrally and medially to globus pallidus. They are analogous to the nucleus basalis (NB) in primates, and their damage produces significant decreases of neocortical cholinergic markers and behavioral changes. Therefore the purpose of this study was to investigate the dose-response relationship between various doses of. Lecithin or arecoline and the passive avoidance behavior in the NB lesioned rats. The study was carried out on Wistar albino rats weighting 200-250g. Animals were anesthetized and bilateral electrolytic NB lesions were made. The coordinates for the lesions were 0.7 mm posterior ; 2.7 mm lateral and 8.0 mm ventral to the bregma, After a 15 days lasting postoperative recovery period passed, each the NB lesioned animals was subjected to the passive avoidance test (the procedure of Ashford and Jones, 1976). A total of four consecutive daily sessions were given. Drugs used were: 0.9% NaCl solution (control), arecoline hydrochloride (0, 01 mg/kg ; 0, 1 mg/kg ; 1 mg/kg) ; lecithin (2, 5 mg/kg ; 25 mg/kg ; 250 mg/kg). All the tested drugs were given intraperitoneally once per day. Arecoline was injected 10 minutes and lecithin one hour before the passive avoidance experiment starting in the course of four behavior testing days. The results of our experiments show that bilateral electrolytic lesions of the NB impaired the passive avoidance task in the rat. Arecoline and lecithin in some tested doses were effective in reversing the memory deficits in the NB lesioned rats.

lecithin; arecoline; NB lesions; passive avoidance; rat

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