Galanthamine, an acetylcholine inhibitor, prevents prepulse inhibition deficits induced by adolescent social isolation or MK-801 treatment

• Adolescent social isolation impaired PPI in adult rats.
• Adolescent MK-801 treatment impaired PPI in adult rats.
• Galanthamine improved PPI disruption induced by adolescent MK-801 injection.
• Galanthamine improved PPI disruption induced by adolescent social isolation.
• Galanthamine has the potential to improve cognition in neurodevelopmental diseases.

Adolescence is a critical period for neurodevelopment. MK-801 treatment and social isolation are important animal models for various neurodevelopmental disorders. Dysfunctions in the central cholinergic system are involved in creating the cognitive deficits observed in neurological diseases. In the present study, we aimed to investigate whether the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor galanthamine could reverse pre-cognitive prepulse inhibition (PPI) deficits and spatial learning deficits of adult rats in the Morris water maze. We induced these effects using either adolescent MK-801 treatment or social isolation from postnatal day (PND) 38–51. Our results showed that both adolescent social isolation and MK-801 treatment impaired PPI in adult rats, but neither had an effect on spatial learning. Furthermore, galanthamine injections over 7 days significantly enhanced PPI of normal rats and improved PPI disruption induced by adolescent pharmacological and rearing interventions. The results suggest that acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, such as galanthamine, might have the potential to improve pre-cognition in neurodevelopmental diseases by improving auditory sensory gating.