Acute nicotinic blockade produces cognitive impairment in normal humans

Single oral doses of the central and peripheral nicotinic antagonist mecamylamine were administered to healthy young normal males in doses of 5, 10, and 20 mg in a placebo-controlled, double-blind study. The 20 mg dose caused a significant increase in errors in the learning condition of the Repeated...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychopharmacologia 1992-09, Vol.108 (4), p.480-484
Main Authors: NEWHOUSE, P. A, POTTER, A, CORWIN, J, LENOX, R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Behavior - drug effects
Behavior - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Cognition Disorders - chemically induced
Cognition Disorders - physiopathology
Cognition Disorders - psychology
Drug toxicity and drugs side effects treatment
Humans
Male
Mecamylamine - pharmacology
Medical sciences
Memory - drug effects
Memory - physiology
Neuropsychological Tests
Nicotinic Antagonists
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Reaction Time - physiology
Reference Values
Toxicity: nervous system and muscle
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Summary:Single oral doses of the central and peripheral nicotinic antagonist mecamylamine were administered to healthy young normal males in doses of 5, 10, and 20 mg in a placebo-controlled, double-blind study. The 20 mg dose caused a significant increase in errors in the learning condition of the Repeated Acquisition task, producing a slower acquisition curve. The lower doses produced less errors, but more than in the placebo condition. There was no effect of drug on the performance component (retrieval of previously learned information). On the recognition memory task, dose-related increases in false-alarms during the delay period were seen, with little effect on misses or hits. Reaction time measures suggested a dose-related slowing of RT on several tasks. Behavioral effects were minimal and physiologic measures were consistent with dose-related ganglionic blockade. We interpret these results to indicate that acute blockade of nicotinic receptor function can produce measurable and significant cognitive impairment, even in non-smoking normals.
ISSN:0033-3158
1432-2072
DOI:10.1007/BF02247425