Abstract
Study of a neurotransmitter substrate of spatial navigation is one of the most investigated topics in cognitive neurosciences. Active allothetic place avoidance (AAPA) task is a spatial behavioral paradigm allowing simultaneous assessment of changes in spatial behavior and locomotion of experimental animals. In the present study, we investigated the involvement of alpha1-adreneregic and dopamine D2 receptors in the locomotor activity and the spatial efficiency in the AAPA task. We administered specific receptor antagonists prazosin (1 and 2 mg/kg) and sulpiride (10 and 30 mg/kg) either separately, or co-applied them together. Results show that co-application of both drugs affects locomotion and behavior of rats at the doses, which cause minor or no impairments when injected independently. Such a potentiation of effect suggests that both types of receptors act synergistically to regulate the locomotion in the AAPA task. However future experiments are required to elucidate whether the behavioral deficit occurs as a result of decreased locomotion, or evolves as a stand - alone phenomenon. The presented experiments also support the usefulness of the AAPA task in the study of animal cognition.
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