Neonatal cholinergic lesions and development of exploration upon administration of the GABAa receptor agonist muscimol in preweaning rats

Developmental changes in associative learning behavior in male rats

“…According to the definition by Spear and Brake (1983), rats at PD30-PD32 are categorized into adolescence as the ontogenetic period including approximately 10 days prior to the onset of puberty (which occurs at about PD40 in the rat) and few days thereafter. Particular marked alterations are found in the forebrain regions (cerebral cortex, hippocampus and striatum), neurotransmitter systems such as mesolimbic dopaminergic (Campbell et al, 2000) and basal forebrain cholinergic systems (Scattoni et al, 2003;Ricceri, 2003), proliferation and maturation of axon terminals, and synapses (Stamford, 1989;Teicher et al, 1995) are seen in this period. Dopamine receptors play a role of reinforcement effect (Jocham, 2011) in the striatum and sexual hormonal systems in early adolescence (Sisk and Foster, 2004) are activated in this period.…”

The impact of neonatal basal forebrain cholinergic lesion on the behavioural and neural effects of aging, cerebral hypoperfusion, and environmental enrichment

“…However, lesioning of the BFCS in the early postnatal period has generally revealed only modest effects on rodent behaviour. For instance, lesioned rats tested during the preweaning period show alterations in exploratory behaviour in the open field (Ricceri et al, 1997;Scattoni et al, 2003;Sherren et al, 1999), hole-board test (Ricceri et al, 1997) and elevated plus maze (Sherren et al, 1999), as well as deficits in passive avoidance acquisition (Ricceri et al, 1997;Ricceri et al, 2002) but these effects have often been found to be transient, disappearing as rats reach adulthood (Ricceri et al, 1999;Sherren etal., 1999).…”