Effect of flumazenil on the memory-enhancing properties of (−)-nicotine in rodents

✍ Scribed by Alyssa B. O'Neill; Jorge D. Brioni

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 695 KB
• Volume: 31
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0272-4391
• DOI: 10.1002/ddr.430310107

✦ Synopsis

The effect of the benzodiazepine-receptor antagonist flumazenil on the facilitatory effect of (-)-nicotine on memory in septal-lesioned rats in a spatial task and in the inhibitory avoidance test in mice was investigated. In the two-platform spatial discrimination test, septallesioned rats exhibited a significant number of errors in comparison to sham animals, an effect that can be reversed by the administration of (-)-nicotine during the training phase. Flumazenil did not affect the performance of septal-lesioned rats but it blocked the facilitatory effect of (-)-nicotine on lesioned rats. In the inhibitory avoidance test in mice, (-)-nicotine as well as flumazenil facilitated retention of the test at 0.62 and 10 p,mol/kg, respectively. However, a low-noneffective dose of flumazenil blocked the memory enhancing effect of (-)-nicotine. The blockade of the facilitatory effect of (-)-nicotine by flumazenil in normal and septal-lesioned animals suggests that the cognitive effect of (-)-nicotine requires the activation of benzodiazepine receptors.