Effects of cytidine-diphosphocholine on acetylcholine-mediated behaviors in the rat

• Published in: Brain research bulletin Vol. 31; no. 5; pp. 485 - 489
• Main Authors: Drago, Filippo, Mauceri, Francesco, Nardo, Luciano, Valerio, Carmela, Genazzani, Armando A., Grassi, Michele
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 1993; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Acetylcholine; Acetylcholine - pharmacology; Alkylating Agents - pharmacology; Amnesia - chemically induced; Amnesia - psychology; Animals; Avoidance Learning - drug effects; Basal Ganglia; Behavior, Animal - drug effects; Biological and medical sciences; Cholinergic system; Cognition - drug effects; Cytidine Diphosphate Choline - pharmacology; Cytidine-diphosphocholine; Female; Injections; Injections, Intraperitoneal; Kainic Acid - pharmacology; Learning and memory; Male; Medical sciences; Methylaxozymethanol; Methylazoxymethanol Acetate - analogs & derivatives; Methylazoxymethanol Acetate - pharmacology; Motor Activity - drug effects; Neuropharmacology; Neurotransmitters. Neurotransmission. Receptors; Nucleus basalis magnocellularis; Parasympathetic Nervous System - drug effects; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Postural Balance - drug effects; Psychomotor Performance - drug effects; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Scopolamine; Scopolamine - pharmacology; Stereotaxic Techniques; Synaptic Transmission - drug effects; Learning and memory; Cytidine-diphosphocholine; Acetylcholine; Scopolamine; Methylaxozymethanol; Nucleus basalis magnocellularis; Rat; Psychotropic; Memory; Rodentia; Central nervous system; Cognition; Precursor; Cholinergic pathway; Learning; Vertebrata; Nucleus basalis; Mammalia; Animal; Nootropic agent; Phosphatidylcholine; Brain (vertebrata)
• ISSN: 0361-9230; 1873-2747
• DOI: 10.1016/0361-9230(93)90113-P

The phosphatidylcholine precursor, cytidine-diphosphocholine (CDP-choline), was injected intraperitoneally (IP) at the dose of 10 or 20 mg/kg/day for 20 days to 24-month-old male rats of the Sprague-Dawley strain that showed cognitive and motor deficits. The drug was also injected in animals with behavioral alterations induced pharmacologically with a single injection of the cholinergic receptor antagonist, scopolamine, with prenatal exposure to methylazoxymethanol (MAM rats), or with bilateral injections of kainic acid into the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM). Learning and memory capacity of the animals, studied with tests of active and passive avoidance behavior, was improved after treatment with CDP-choline in all experimental groups. An improvement in motor performance and coordination in the rotorod and open field tests was also observed in aged rats. These results indicate that this drug affects central mechanisms involved in cognitive behaviors, probably through a cholinergic action.