Effect of acute physostigmine and verapamil treatment on aggressive and depressive behavior in rats with lesioned nucleus basalis magnocellularis

Abstract

In order to investigate the effects of physostigmine and verapamil on aggressive (test of foot shock induced aggression) and depressive (learned helplessness test) behavior, ten days after bilateral lesions of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM), adult male Wistar rats were acute treated (30 min before the test) with physostigmine (0.045, 0.060 and 0.075 mg/kg, s.c.) or verapamil (1.0, 2.5, 5.0 and 10.0 mg/kg, s.c.) Physostigmine in dose of 0.075 mg/kg and verapamil in doses 2.5 and 5.0 mg/kg significantly prolongated the escape latency period in the learned helplessness test and thus produced a consolidation of depressiveness in NBM-lesioned rats. Tn contrast to that, there was no restitution of aggressive behavior in NBM-lesioned rats treated with both drugs. It could be concluded that both physostigmine and verapamil exerts a significant influence on depressive, but not on aggressive reaction in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease.