ArticlePsychopharmacology2015
Facilitation of spatial working memory performance following intra-prefrontal cortical administration of the adrenergic alpha1 agonist phenylephrine.
Article in Psychopharmacology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Medial prefrontal cortex and dorsomedial striatum are necessary for the trial-unique, delayed nonmatching-to-location (TUNL) task in rats: role of NMDA receptors.Learning & memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) · 2017Article
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- Locus Ceruleus Norepinephrine Release: A Central Regulator of CNS Spatio-Temporal Activation?Frontiers in synaptic neuroscience · 2016Article
- The NEWMEDS rodent touchscreen test battery for cognition relevant to schizophrenia.Psychopharmacology · 2015Review
- A novel 2- and 3-choice touchscreen-based continuous trial-unique nonmatching-to-location task (cTUNL) sensitive to functional differences between dentate gyrus and CA3 subregions of the hippocampus.Psychopharmacology · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
rationaleSpatial working memory is dependent on the appropriate functioning of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). PFC activity can be modulated by noradrenaline (NA) released by afferent projections from the locus coeruleus. The coreuleo-cortical NA system could therefore be a target for cognitive enhancers of spatial working memory. Of the three classes of NA receptor potentially involved, the α2 and α1 classes seem most significant, though agents targeting these receptors have yielded mixed results. This may be partially due to the use of behavioural assays that do not translate effectively from the laboratory to the clinical setting. Use of a paradigm with improved translational potential may be essential to resolve these discrepancies.
objectivesThe objective of this study was to assess the effects of PFC-infused α2 and α1 adrenergic receptor agonists on spatial working memory performance in the touchscreen continuous trial-unique non-matching to location (cTUNL) task in rats.
methodsYoung male rats were trained in the cTUNL paradigm. Cannulation of the mPFC allowed direct administration of GABA agonists for task validation, and phenylephrine and guanfacine to determine the effects of adrenergic agonists on task performance.
resultsInfusion of muscimol and baclofen resulted in a delay-dependent impairment. Administration of the α2 agonist guanfacine had no effect, whilst infusion of the α1 agonist phenylephrine significantly improved working memory performance.
conclusionsSpatial working memory as measured in the rat cTUNL task is dependent on the mPFC. Enhancement of noradrenergic signalling enhanced performance in this paradigm, suggesting a significant role for the α1 receptor in this facilitation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.