Effects of Pretraining Intrastriatal Administration of p-Chloroamphetamine on Inhibitory Avoidance

• Published in: Neurobiology of learning and memory 2002-07, Vol.78 (1), p.178-185
• Main Authors: Solana-Figueroa, Rafael, Salado-Castillo, Rigoberto, Galindo, Luisa E, Quirarte, Gina L, Prado-Alcalá, Roberto A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anatomical correlates of behavior; Animals; Avoidance Learning - drug effects; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Corpus Striatum - drug effects; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Inhibition (Psychology); inhibitory avoidance; Male; memory; p-chloroamphetamine; p-Chloroamphetamine - pharmacology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Rats; Rats, Wistar; retention; serotonin; Serotonin Agents - pharmacology; striatum; Teaching
• ISSN: 1074-7427; 1095-9564
• DOI: 10.1006/nlme.2002.4056

Pretraining systemic administration of p-chloroamphetamine (PCA) consistently produces retention deficits of inhibitory avoidance. This drug causes a widespread acute release of serotonin from cerebral neuronal terminals, but it is not known where in the brain PCA exerts its disruptive cognitive effects. The present experiment was aimed at determining whether the striatum is a site of action of this drug. PCA (5 μg) was infused, bilaterally, into the striatum of rats at 30, 15, or 5 min before training of inhibitory avoidance, and retention of the task was measured 24 h later. An inversely related time-dependent deficit was found. Together with the results from appropriate control groups, this result strongly suggest that systemic PCA produces its reported cognitive effects, at least in part, through its pharmacological action within the striatum.