Sara S J, Devauges V, Biegon A, Blizard D A
Institut des Neurosciences, CNRS-URA 1488, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, Paris, France.
J Physiol Paris. 1994;88(6):337-45. doi: 10.1016/0928-4257(94)90026-4.
Central noradrenergic function in relation to cognitive performance was studied in the Maudsley rat strains. Neurochemical studies revealed a higher response to acute stress in the locus coeruleus (LC) in the Maudsley reactives (MR) than in the Maudsley non-reactives (MNRA). Autoradiographic studies showed that MNRAs had greater 125I clonidine binding to alpha 2 receptors in LC, which was accompanied by a higher behavioral sensitivity to clonidine. MRs had a deficit in working memory, but were superior to MNRAs in two reference memory tasks. MRs displayed a stronger preference for novel objects, with no strain differences in general exploratory activity. The behavioral profile of the MRs is similar to rats treated with drugs which enhance noradrenergic function. Furthermore, MNRA rats had greater availability of muscarinic receptors, which correlated with behavioral performance in the spatial working memory task. The differences in noradrenergic and cholinergic systems and their relationship to the behavioral profile make the Maudsley strains a useful tool to probe the interaction between two neurotransmitter systems in cognitive function.
在莫兹利大鼠品系中研究了与认知表现相关的中枢去甲肾上腺素能功能。神经化学研究表明，莫兹利反应型大鼠（MR）蓝斑（LC）对急性应激的反应高于莫兹利非反应型大鼠（MNRA）。放射自显影研究显示，MNRA大鼠LC中125I可乐定与α2受体的结合更强，同时对可乐定的行为敏感性更高。MR大鼠存在工作记忆缺陷，但在两项参考记忆任务中优于MNRA大鼠。MR大鼠对新物体表现出更强的偏好，在一般探索活动中没有品系差异。MR大鼠的行为特征类似于用增强去甲肾上腺素能功能的药物治疗的大鼠。此外，MNRA大鼠的毒蕈碱受体可用性更高，这与空间工作记忆任务中的行为表现相关。去甲肾上腺素能和胆碱能系统的差异及其与行为特征的关系使莫兹利大鼠品系成为探究两种神经递质系统在认知功能中相互作用的有用工具。
