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Aniracetam restores object recognition impaired by age, scopolamine,
and nucleus basalis lesions.
Bartolini L,
Casamenti F,
Pepeu G.
Department of
Preclinical and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Florence,
Italy.
Object recognition was investigated in
adult and aging male rats in a two-trials, unrewarded, test that
assessed a form of working-episodic memory. Exploration time in the
first trial, in which two copies of the same object were presented,
was recorded. In the second trial, in which one of the familiar
objects and a new object were presented, the time spent exploring
the two objects was separately recorded and a discrimination index
was calculated. Adult rats explored the new object longer than the
familiar object when the intertrial time ranged from 1 to 60 min.
Rats older than 20 months of age did not discriminate between
familiar and new objects. Object discrimination was lost in adult
rats after scopolamine (0.2 mg/kg SC) administration and with
lesions of the nucleus basalis, resulting in a 40% decrease in
cortical ChAT activity. Both aniracetam (25, 50, 100 mg/kg os) and
oxiracetam (50 mg/kg os) restored object recognition in aging rats,
in rats treated with scopolamine, and with lesions of the nucleus
basalis. In the rat, object discrimination appears to depend on the
integrity of the cholinergic system, and nootropic drugs can correct
its disruption.
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