Synergistic effects of dopamine D2-like receptor antagonist sulpiride and β-blocker propranolol on learning in the carousel maze, a dry-land spatial navigation task.

Iva Prokopova, Stepan Bahnik, Vanessa Doulames, Karel Vales, Tomas Petrasek, Jan Svoboda, Ales Stuchlik

Institute of Physiology Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.

Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior 2012 Jul

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Spatial navigation attracts the attention of neuroscientists as an animal analogue of human declarative memory. The Carousel maze is a dry-land navigational paradigm, which proved to be useful in studying neurobiological substrates of learning. The task involves avoidance of a stable sector on a rotating arena and is highly dependent upon the hippocampus. The present study aims at testing hypothesis that sulpiride (a centrally-active dopamine D2-like receptor antagonist) and propranolol (a beta-blocker) impair spatial learning in the Carousel maze after combined systemic administration. These doses were previously shown to be subthreshold in this task. Results showed that both substances affected behavior and significantly potentiated their negative effects on spatial learning. This suggests central interaction of both types of receptors in influencing acquisition of this dynamic-environment task. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Citation

Iva Prokopova, Stepan Bahnik, Vanessa Doulames, Karel Vales, Tomas Petrasek, Jan Svoboda, Ales Stuchlik. Synergistic effects of dopamine D2-like receptor antagonist sulpiride and β-blocker propranolol on learning in the carousel maze, a dry-land spatial navigation task. Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior. 2012 Jul;102(1):151-6