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P2‐280: The effects of scopolamine on sociability and social memory in mice: Reversal by Donepezil
Author(s) -
Riedel Gernot,
Platt Bettina
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2008.05.1356
Subject(s) - donepezil , muscarinic acetylcholine receptor , psychology , cholinergic , diazepam , dementia , developmental psychology , pharmacology , psychiatry , neuroscience , medicine , receptor , disease
Background: Impaired aspects of social behaviour are core symptoms of psychiatric disorders. In rodents, social recognition is reliant on cholinergic receptor activation and this situation is reminiscent of patients suffering from dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), in which a reduction of cholinergic tone and reduced activation of muscarinic receptors is a consistent hallmark and social disengagement is a risk factor for cognitive decline. Here, we the effects of diazepam and scopolamine in a modified social interaction task and probed reversal of deficits by donepezil, the most common treatment in AD. Methods: The tasks follows the principles laid out by Moy et al (Genes Brain Behav. 3: 287; 2004) and involves the automatic measurement of interactions between a resident and one stranger mouse (sociability) for five minutes and, then after an interval (30s-10 min) an additional second stranger mouse (social memory). The time spent investigating the strangers is taken as an index of sociability and was conducted using group-housed female C57Bl/6 mice (n 12 per drug) that received i.p. administration of 0.3mg/kg scopolamine with and without donepezil (1mg/kg) or 0.1mg/kg diazepam or vehicle (saline). Results: All treatment groups showed sociability. However, while both the vehicle and diazepam treatment groups also displayed a significant social memory, this memory was absent in scopolamine-treated mice which only showed sociability, but no social memory. Donepezil co-treatment prevented the social memory deficit. Conclusions: These data suggest that the development of social memory or its recall is dependent on muscarinic, but not benzodiazepine receptor activation. Reversal of memory deficits by donepezil suggest that social recognition may be a useful test in AD and patients on treatment with acetylcholine inhibitors may considerably benefit and improve social behaviour.