Post-trial NMDA receptor allosteric blockade differentially influences habituation of behavioral responses to novelty in the rat

doi:10.1016/0166-4328(90)90104-M

Behavioural Brain Research

Volume 39, Issue 2, 9 July 1990, Pages 187-195

https://doi.org/10.1016/0166-4328(90)90104-M Get rights and content

Abstract

The involvement of glutamatergic receptors of the $N- methyl- d -aspartate$ (NMDA) type in long-term behavioral habituation (LTH) to a novel environment was investigated. To this aim, adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were first exposed to a Làt-maze. Horizontal (corner-crossings) and vertical activity (rearings) were measured per 1-min block. Immediately after a 10-min test trial in the maze, rats were systemically injected with either 6 or 20 mg/kg of the allosteric NMDA receptor blocker ketamine-HCl (KET) or vehicle. Retention was tested one week later. LTH was expressed as the decline in horizontal and vertical activity from test trial 1 to test trial 2. The results showed a facilitation of the two components of LTH at 6 mg/kg and a disruption at 20 mg/kg. This biphasic effect pertained to vertical activity only. For both activity components, the facilitation of LTH at 6 mg/kg pertained to the first part, whereas the inhibition at 20 mg/kg pertained to the second part of the testing period. Since horizontal and vertical activity are thought to have a prevailing cognitive (spatial) and non-cognitive (emotional) meaning, subanesthetic doses of KET differentially affect the long-lasting retention of these behavioral responses to novelty. Thus, NMDA receptors seem to be involved in the coupling of spatial and emotional components of information.

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^☆: These results have been presented in abstract form at the Spring Meeting of the Italian Physiological Society (SIF), Florence, Italy, 1987; at the Mountcastle Symposium on Neuroscience, Integrative Functions, Baltimore, 1989; and at the Symposium on the Neurobiology of the NMDA Receptor, From Chemistry to Clinic, Pittsburgh, 1989.

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Research reportPost-trial NMDA receptor allosteric blockade differentially influences habituation of behavioral responses to novelty in the rat☆

Abstract

Brain Res.

Behav. Neural Biol.

Adv. Biosci.

Eur. J. Pharmacol.

Neuropharmacology

Brain Res.

Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol.

Eur. J. Pharmacol.

Neurosci. Lett.

Neurosci. Lett.

Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav.

Brain Res.

Behav. Brain Res.

Trends Neurosci.

Neuroscience

Neuropharmacology

Prog. Neurobiol.

Trends Neurosci.

Neurosci. Lett.

Brain Res.

Gen. Pharmacol.

Brain Res.

Eur. J. Pharmacol.

Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol.

Brain Res.

Neurosci. Lett.

Behav. Biol.

Neuropharmacology

Phencyclidine selectively blocks a spinal action of N-methyl-d-aspartate in mice

Neurosci. Lett.

Experiments in psychogenetics: applications of biometrical genetics to the inheritance of behavior

Excitatory amino acids in synaptic transmission in the Schaffer collateral-commissural pathway of the rat hippocampus

J. Physiol.

Role of excitatory amino acid receptors in synaptic transmission and plasticity in hippocampal pathways

Dissociative anesthesia: further pharmacologic studies and first clinical experience with the phencyclidine derivative CI-581

Anesth. Analg.

Excitatory amino acid neuro-transmission: NMDA receptors and Hebb-type synaptic plasticity

Annu. Rev. Neurosci.

Effects of psychoactive agents on acquisition of conditioned pole jumping in rats

Psychopharmacology

Research report
Post-trial NMDA receptor allosteric blockade differentially influences habituation of behavioral responses to novelty in the rat☆

Phencyclidine selectively blocks a spinal action of $N- methyl- d -aspartate$ in mice