Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
10298226 European Neuropsychopharmacology 2005 16 Pages PDF
Abstract
Spatial cognition appears to be compromised in elderly and in patients suffering from dementia. These deficits are believed to be modelled, at least partly, by the administration of scopolamine or MK-801 in normal adult animals. In order to establish an animal model suited for the evaluation of putative cognition enhancers, we assessed the effects of scopolamine (0.3, 0.5, 0.7 mg kg−1, i.p.) and MK-801 (0.07, 0.08, 0.09 mg kg−1, s.c.) in rats trained in the cone field. This task allows the simultaneous investigation of working memory (WM), reference memory (RM) and search strategies. Scopolamine and MK-801 reliably induced spatial cognition deficits in the cone field without inducing behavioural side effects. This task appears to be suited for assessing the effects of putative cognition-enhancing compounds on spatial cognition.
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Life Sciences Neuroscience Biological Psychiatry
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