Effects of Early Training and Nicotine Treatment on thePerformance of Male NMRI Mice in the Water Maze

[摘要] This research aimed to evaluate the effect ofnicotine treatment and prior training on aspatial learning task in differently aged NMRImale mice. In a longitudinal study, mice wererandomly assigned to one of 14 experimentalgroups receiving different combinations ofchronically injected nicotine (0.35 mg/kg)administered for 10 days (5 days before andduring 5 days acquisition of task) or controltreatments and training in the water maze atdifferent ages. The mice displayed shorterescape latencies when evaluated at 6 and 10months than when tested in this task at 2months for the first time, demonstrating thatearly training preserves performance in thewater maze up to 8 months after the initialexperience. Nicotine treatment did notsignificantly change performance in the watermaze at any age tested. Early practice in aspatial reference memory task appears to havelasting consequences and can potentiallycontribute to preventing some age-relatedspatial learning deficits.

[学科分类] 精神健康和精神病学