Dopamine D4 receptor antagonist L745,870 abolishes cognitive effects of intracerebroventricular angiotensin IV and des-Phe6-Ang IV in rats

In this study effect of L745,870, a selective D4 dopamine (DA) receptor blocker, on the pro-cognitive action of intracerebroventricularly (icv) injected angiotensin IV (Ang IV) and des-Phe6-Ang IV was examined. Male Wistar rats weighing 180–200 g were used. Both peptides given at the dose of 1 nmol facilitated recall of a passive avoidance (PA) behaviour, improved object recognition (OR) memory, decreased number of errors, increased number of sequential correct entries and shortened time-to-goal in an eight-arm radial maze (RM). In the auxiliary tests performed to control for the participation of unspecific motor (open field, OF) and emotional (‘plus’ maze, PM) effects of our treatment in the results of memory tests they had either no (OF) or negligible (PM) effects. Intraperitoneal pretreatment of the animals with 1 mg/kg of L745,870 abolished effects of both peptides on PA and OR and slightly diminished those observed in the eight-arm RM.