6-Hydroxydopamine treatment does not affect the young rat's ability to modify its response when changing from food to water deprivation

Abstract

In this study we examined whether depletion of forebrain noradrenaline would affect latent learning as predicted on the basis of the role attributed to the dorsal noradrenergic bundle in attention. Either 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) or saline was injected into the lateral ventricles of male Wistar pups on postnatal day 12. Immediately after weaning the rats were food deprived and trained to choose the left arm of a Y-maze which contained food while the right arm provided access to water. Once they had learnt to enter the left arm they were allowed access to food but not to water for one day and then tested again. All the rats quickly adjusted their behavioural response to the fact that they were deprived of water. The 6-OHDA-treated rats' behaviour did not differ significantly from that of the controls.