Selective immunolesions of CH4 cholinergic neurons do not disrupt spatial memory in rats

• Published in: Physiology & behavior Vol. 76; no. 1; pp. 75 - 90
• Main Authors: Galani, Rodrigue, Lehmann, Olivia, Bolmont, Tristan, Aloy, Elizabeth, Bertrand, Fabrice, Lazarus, Christine, Jeltsch, Hélène, Cassel, Jean-Christophe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Elsevier Inc 01.05.2002; New York, NY Elsevier
• Subjects: 192-IgG-saporin; Acetylcholinesterase - metabolism; Anatomical correlates of behavior; Animal; Animals; Antibodies, Monoclonal - toxicity; Beam walking; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - anatomy & histology; Brain - enzymology; Diagonal Band of Broca - cytology; Diagonal Band of Broca - physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Histocytochemistry; Immunohistochemistry; Immunotoxins - toxicity; Learning. Memory; Life Sciences; Locomotor activity; Male; Maze Learning - physiology; Memory; Memory - physiology; Memory, Short-Term - physiology; Motor Activity - physiology; N-Glycosyl Hydrolases; Neurobiology; Neurons - enzymology; Neurons - physiology; Neurons and Cognition; Nucleus basalis magnocellularis; Parasympathetic Nervous System - cytology; Parasympathetic Nervous System - enzymology; Parasympathetic Nervous System - physiology; Postural Balance - physiology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Radial maze; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; Reference memory; Ribosome Inactivating Proteins, Type 1; Saporins; Space Perception - physiology; T-maze alternation; Water maze; Working memory; Reference memory; T-maze alternation; 192-IgG-saporin; Water maze; Radial maze; Beam walking; Working memory; Locomotor activity; Nucleus basalis magnocellularis; Animal model; Rat; Alzheimer disease; Central nervous system; Cognition; Esterases; Acetylcholinesterase; Nucleus basalis; Acquisition process; Investigation method; Degenerative disease; Nervous system diseases; Enzyme; Rodentia; Carboxylic ester hydrolases; Cholinergic pathway; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Spontaneous physical activity; Animal; Problem solving; Hydrolases; Lesion; Brain (vertebrata); Spatial memory
• ISSN: 0031-9384; 1873-507X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0031-9384(02)00674-1

Adult male Long–Evans rats were subjected to bilateral lesions of the cholinergic neurons in the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) by injection of 0.2 or 0.4 μg 192-IgG-saporin in 0.4 μl phosphate-buffered saline. Control rats received an equivalent amount of phosphate-buffered saline. Starting 2 weeks after surgery, all rats were tested for locomotor activity in their home cage, beam-walking performance, T-maze alternation rates (working memory), reference and working memory performance in a water-maze task, and memory capabilities in the eight-arm radial maze task using uninterrupted and interrupted (delay of 2 min, 2 h and 6 h after four arms had been visited) testing procedures. Histochemical analysis showed a significant decrease of acetylcholinesterase (AChE)-positive reaction products (30–66%) in various cortical regions at the 0.2-μg dose. At the dose of 0.4 μg, there was an additional, although weak, damage to the hippocampus (17–30%) and the cingulate cortex (34%). The behavioral results showed only minor impairments in spatial memory tasks, and only during initial phases of the tests (reference memory in the water maze, working memory in the radial maze). The behavioral effects of the dramatic cholinergic lesions do not support the idea of a substantial implication of cholinergic projections from the NBM to the cortex in the memory processes assessed in this study, but they remain congruent with an involvement of these projections in attentional functions.