Impaired passive avoidance learning in mice lacking central neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors

The nicotinic cholinergic system influences cognition, anxiety, locomotion, and addiction by acting upon nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). To date, there are 12 known neuronal mammalian nAChR subunits leading to a rich pharmacological diversity that is difficult to attribute to specific su...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuroscience 2004, Vol.129 (3), p.575-582
Main Authors: Marubio, L.M., Paylor, R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis of Variance
Animals
Avoidance Learning - physiology
behavior
Behavior, Animal
Biological and medical sciences
Brain - cytology
cholinergic
Exploratory Behavior - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Inhibition (Psychology)
locomotor activity
Male
Mice
Mice, Knockout
Motor Activity - genetics
motor coordination
Neurons - metabolism
nicotinic
passive avoidance
Protein Subunits - deficiency
Protein Subunits - genetics
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Receptors, Nicotinic - deficiency
Receptors, Nicotinic - genetics
Receptors, Nicotinic - physiology
Reflex, Acoustic - physiology
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
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Summary:The nicotinic cholinergic system influences cognition, anxiety, locomotion, and addiction by acting upon nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). To date, there are 12 known neuronal mammalian nAChR subunits leading to a rich pharmacological diversity that is difficult to attribute to specific subunits. We generated α7-β2 nAChR double mutant mice by breeding to investigate the effect of a minimal number of nAChRs in the CNS. These mice have been used to determine the role these receptor subunits play in a variety of behaviors. A battery of behavioral tests was used to determine the effect of the mutation in anxiety, locomotor activity, startle response, pre-pulse inhibition, motor coordination and learning and memory. Mice lacking both the α7 and the β2 nAChR subunits displayed impaired learning and memory performance in a passive avoidance test and showed enhanced motor performance on the rotarod.
ISSN:0306-4522
1873-7544
DOI:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2004.09.003