Diminished responsivity on a passive avoidance task to second administration of scopolamine

Alterations in the effects of atropine on the behavior of pigeons following chronic administration

The acute effects of atropine (0.01-1.0 mg/kg) on pigeons' key-pecking maintained under a variable-interval (VI) 60-sec schedule of food reinforcement were determined. Atropine decreased key-peck rates in a dose-dependent manner. A rate-decreasing dose of physostigmine, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, was studied in combination with the range of atropine doses. The rate reduction produced by physostigmine was attenuated by some doses of atropine. An atropine dose which decreased key-peck rates was then administered to the pigeons every day after their experimental sessions (chronic post-session phase). During this regimen, the dose-effect curves for atropine and the combination of atropine and physostigmine were redetermined. Atropine was then given chronically prior to experimental sessions (chronic pre-session phase), and the dose-effect curves for atropine and the combinations of atropine and physostigmine were determined again. The pigeons became tolerant to the rate-reducing effects of atropine following chronic post-session administration. Physostigmine's effect alone was unchanged following chronic atropine administration for two pigeons, and was slightly greater for a third. The rate reduction caused by physostigmine was attenuated across a wider range of atropine doses in the two pigeons for which the effect of physostigmine alone was unchanged. The atropine/physostigmine interaction curve for the third pigeon was shifted to the right following chronic post-session atropine administration. No further changes in effects of either atropine alone or in combination with physostigmine were seen following chronic pre-session atropine administration.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Pharmacological investigations of neurotransmitter involvement in passive avoidance responding: a review and some new results

The roles of acetylcholine (ACh), noradrenaline (NA), dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) in passive avoidance responding are examined by reviewing previous studies of the effects on this task of drugs which alter the functioning of these neurotransmitter systems and also by presenting the results of a new study. This new study includes a number of drugs which do not seem to have been examined before, namely pilocarpine, pempidine, pentolinium, tetrabenazine, desipramine, clonidine, isoprenaline, pimozide, fluoxetine, L-tryptophan, methysergide and cyproheptadine. Because there is large variability in the effects of any one drug or class of drugs on passive avoidance responding, it is difficult to determine the exact involvement of the various neurotransmitter systems. There is also little good evidence that drug effects on performance of the passive avoidance response are caused by drug-induced changes in learning and memory processes or by state-dependent effects. Three other factors which may influence performance of the passive avoidance response-shock sensitivity, the biochemical response to stress and locomotor activity-are discussed and may be responsible for many of the drug-induced changes in passive avoidance responding.