Meck W H, Smith R A, Williams C L
Department of Psychology, Columbia College, Columbia University New York, New York 10027.
Dev Psychobiol. 1988 May;21(4):339-53. doi: 10.1002/dev.420210405.
Although research has demonstrated that short-term improvement in memory function of adult rats can occur when the availability of precursors for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine is increased, little is known about whether memory function of adult rats can be permanently altered by precursor supplementation during early development. In the present study, male albino rats were exposed to choline chloride supplementation both prenatally (through the diet of pregnant rats) and postnatally (subcutaneous injections). At 60 days of age rats were tested on a 12- and 18-arm radial maze task. Results indicated that compared to control littermates, perinatal choline-treated rats showed more accurate performance on both working and reference memory components of the task. This performance difference was apparent on the first block of sessions and continued throughout training. Further analysis revealed that the difference between choline and control rats is not due to use of differential response or cue-use strategies. Instead, it appears that choline induced performance differences are due to long-term enhancement of spatial memory capacity and precision.
尽管研究表明，当神经递质乙酰胆碱的前体可用性增加时，成年大鼠的记忆功能会出现短期改善，但对于成年大鼠的记忆功能在早期发育过程中是否会因补充前体而永久改变，人们知之甚少。在本研究中，雄性白化大鼠在产前（通过怀孕大鼠的饮食）和产后（皮下注射）都接受了氯化胆碱补充。在60日龄时，对大鼠进行12臂和18臂放射状迷宫任务测试。结果表明，与对照同窝大鼠相比，围产期接受胆碱处理的大鼠在任务的工作记忆和参考记忆成分上表现得更准确。这种表现差异在第一组实验中就很明显，并在整个训练过程中持续存在。进一步分析表明，胆碱组和对照组大鼠之间的差异并非由于使用了不同的反应或线索使用策略。相反，胆碱诱导的表现差异似乎是由于空间记忆能力和精度的长期增强。
