Abstract
Systemic treatments with acetylcholine (ACh) or dopamine (DA) receptor antagonists during hours 0–4 but not during hours 5–8 following training on a radial arm maze (RAM) or lesions of the dorsal striata impair learning. This suggested that intra-striatal infusions of ACh or DA receptor antagonists during hours 0–4 following training may impair learning. Rats were randomly assigned to groups (ns = 5–11) receiving dorsal striatal infusions of the ACh receptor antagonist scopolamine (0–18 μg/μL at 0 and 2 h or at 4 and 6 h after training), the DA receptor antagonist cis-flupenthixol (0–25 μg/μL at 0, 4 or 12 h after training) or the inactive isomer trans-flupenthixol (6 μg/μL at 0 h after training). Scopolamine and cis-flupenthixol impaired the habit-learning version of the task. Given after hours 0–4 following training, the effects of scopolamine were diminished but those of cis-flupenthixol were not. Trans-flupenthixol produced less impairment than cis-flupenthixol. Results suggest that ACh and DA receptors in the dorsal striatum during hours 0–4 following training play a role in habit learning.
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