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EFFECTS OF DOPAMINERGIC DRUGS ON WORKING AND REFERENCE MEMORY IN RATS
Citation:
Bushnell, P. AND E. Levin. EFFECTS OF DOPAMINERGIC DRUGS ON WORKING AND REFERENCE MEMORY IN RATS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-93/404 (NTIS PB93236412).
Description:
Occupational exposure to styrene monomer has been associated with cognitive dysfunction in humans, and changes in dopaminergic function have been suggested to underly effects of repeated exposure to styrene monomer in animals. his study was designed to determine whether styrene and/or dopaminergic drugs affect working and reference memory in animals. ale Long-Evans rats were administered styrene by gavage at 4.5 - 6.5 months of age, and subsequently trained to perform an appetitive operant task which allowed daily quantification of working memory (accuracy of spatial delayed non-matching-to-position), reference memory (accuracy of visual discrimination), perseverative responding (position bias) and motor function (choice lever press latencies and nosepoke inter-response times during delay). tyrene alone did not affect acquisition or any measure of performance on this task. he effects of the dopamine reuptake inhibitor d-amphetamine (0.3 - 1.0 mg/kg), the D1 agonist SKF 38393 (1.0 - 3.0 mg/kg), the D1 antagonist SCH 23390 (0.01 - 0.03 mg/kg), the D2 agonist quinpirole (0.01 - 0.056 mg/kg), and the D2 antagonist raclopride (0.056 - 0.177 m/kg) were then assessed in control and styrene-treated rats. nteractions of drugs with styrene treatment were few; however, the drugs alone caused significant changes performance. d-Amphetamine reduced nonmatching accuracy monotonically while reducing response latencies and increasing nosepoke IRT; it increased response bias.