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Molecular mechanisms mediating the effects of
L-alpha-glycerylphosphorylcholine, a new cognition-enhancing drug,
on behavioral and biochemical parameters in young and aged rats.
Schettini G,
Ventra C, Florio T, Grimaldi M, Meucci O,
Scorziello A, Postiglione A, Marino A.
Department of Human Communicative Science, II School
of Medicine, Naples, Italy.
The behavioral effects of the acute and subchronic
administration of L-alpha-glycerylphosphorylcholine (alpha-GPC) on
passive and active avoidance behavioral tasks were investigated.
When administered IP after training together with scopolamine 2 h
before retest, alpha-GPC reverses the scopolamine-induced amnesia in
the passive avoidance conditioning in young and old rats.
Furthermore, the subchronic treatment with alpha-GPC positively and
significantly influences the performance of both young and old
animals in the active avoidance test. Moreover, in in vitro/ex vivo
experiments alpha-GPC potentiates receptor-stimulated
phosphatidylinositol hydrolysis in cortical synaptoneurosomes
derived from young and old animals. In young but not old animals,
alpha-GPC significantly potentiates potassium (40 mM)-stimulated
intrasynaptosomal calcium oscillations in purified synaptosomes
derived from the hippocampus. These results show that alpha-GPC
improves the performance of animals in both active and passive
conditioning tasks. Furthermore, subchronic treatment with the
compound enhances in young and restores in aged animals the
transduction of the signal, namely, the receptor-mediated production
of inositol phosphate and the potassium-induced calcium
mobilization. These modifications may represent at least part of the
molecular mechanism of action of the compound.
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