Nicotine blocks stress-induced impairment of spatial memory and long-term potentiation of the hippocampal CA1 region. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol 2006 Aug;9(4):417-26
Date
12/01/2005Pubmed ID
16316479DOI
10.1017/S1461145705005912Scopus ID
2-s2.0-33745583223 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 68 CitationsAbstract
The effect of chronic nicotine treatment on chronic psychosocial stress-induced impairment of short-term memory and long-term potentiation (LTP) was determined. An "intruder" stress model was used to induce psychosocial stress for 4-6 wk, during which rats were injected with saline or nicotine (1 mg/kg s.c.) twice a day. The radial arm water maze memory task was used to test hippocampus-dependent spatial memory. Chronic psychosocial stress impaired short-term memory without affecting the learning phase or long-term memory. Concurrent chronic nicotine treatment prevented stress-induced short-term memory impairment. In normal rats chronic nicotine treatment had no effect on learning and memory. Extracellular recordings from the CA1 region of anaesthetized rats showed severe reduction of LTP magnitude in stressed rats, which was normalized in nicotine-treated stressed rats. Nicotine had no effect on LTP in control animals. These results showed that chronic nicotine treatment improved hippocampus-dependent spatial memory and LTP only when impaired by stress.
Author List
Aleisa AM, Alzoubi KH, Gerges NZ, Alkadhi KAAuthor
Nashaat Gerges PhD Chair, Professor in the School of Pharmacy Administration department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AnimalsHippocampus
Long-Term Potentiation
Male
Maze Learning
Memory
Memory Disorders
Nicotine
Rats
Rats, Wistar
Space Perception
Stress, Psychological