Radial maze as a tool for assessing the effect of drugs on the working memory of rats.

The effect of physostigmine (0.2 mg/kg), scopolamine (0.1 mg/kg), d,l-amphetamine (1 mg/kg), apomorphine (0.05 mg/kg), and piracetam (100 mg/kg) on working memory was examined in 12 rats that were highly overtrained in the radial maze. In experiment 1, drugs administered 10 min before the trial did not worsen performance of rats in the 12-arm maze. In experiment 2, insertion of a 5-min delay between the sixth and seventh choices increased the number of errors over choices 7-12. Performance was unaffected by pretreatment with physostigmine or apomorphine, but was significantly impaired by scopolamine, amphetamine, and piracetam. In experiment 3, performed in a 24-arm maze, the number of errors and trial duration increased, but performance was not decreased by amphetamine or piracetam. It is concluded that the uninterrupted radial maze task is relatively resistant to pharmacological disruption, but that scopolamine, amphetamine, and piracetam enhance the effect of stimuli interfering with the storage of spatial information over delays.