Age-related working memory deficits in the allocentric place discrimination task: possible involvement in cholinergic dysfunction

It is well known that learning and memory ability declines with aging. Age-related long-term changes in learning and memory ability in rats were investigated with the place navigation task and the allocentric place discrimination task (APDT) in a water maze using the same animals for each task. In a working memory place navigation task, aged animals could learn the location of the platform as well as when they were young, although strategy shifts were observed. In contrast, accuracy in the APDT significantly declined from 90% to 65% with aging. This impairment was ameliorated by an acetylcholine esterase inhibitor physostigmine at 22–23 months old. No amelioration was, however, detected in the same animals tested when they further aged to 26–27 months old. These results suggest that the APDT performance is sensitive to age-related memory deficits and that this may be due to the cholinergic dysfunction.     

Adaptive modification of ingestive behavior in beach mice (Peromyscus polionotus).

The ability of an inland and beach race of the old-field mouse to use increasing concentrations of NaCl solutions was compared. Inland mice drank significantly more fluid at all concentrations than did beach mice. These differences became more pronounced as the salt concentration was increased. Food consumption was similar in both races while drinking water or a dilute salt solution, but beach mice ate significantly greater amounts when the concentration of salt was increased above 0.2 M. Weight losses on salt solutions were approximately equal in both races, although beach mice survived longer and tolerated the higher concentrations better. There was no difference in the ability of the races to concentrate urine or excrete Na⁺. When given a choice of distilled water or two salt solutions, beach mice consumed significantly more water (77%) than salt solutions (23%) whereas inland mice drank approximately equal amounts of water (54%) and salt solutions (46%). When deprived of anything to drink, beach mice almost stopped eating for the first two days while inland mice did not reduce their food consumption as quickly and died sooner. Thus, it appears that adaptive modifications of ingestive behavior are important for survival in habitats where salt accumlates and summer droughts may be a problem.     

Cardiovascular,hormonal and body fluid changes during prolonged exercise

Summary During prolonged heavy exercise a gradual upward drift in heart rate (HR) is seen after the first 10 min of exercise. This secondary rise might be caused by a reduction in stroke volume due to reduced filling of the heart, which is dependent upon both hemodynamic pressure and blood volume. Swimming and bicycling differ with respect to hydrostatic pressure and to water loss, due to sweating. Five subjects were studied during 90 min of bicycle exercise, and swimming the leg kick of free style. The horizontal position during swimming resulted in a larger cardiac output and stroke volume. After the initial rise in heart rate the secondary rise followed parallel courses in the two situations. The rises were positively related to the measured increments in plasma catecholamine concentrations, which continued to increase as exercise progresssed. The secondary rise in HR could not be explained by changes in plasma volume or in water balance, nor by changes in plasma [K]. The plasma volume decreased 5–6% (225–250 ml) within the first 5 to 10 min of exercise both in bicycling and swimming, but thereafter remained virtually unchanged. The sweat loss during bicycling was four times greater than during swimming; but during swimming the hydrostatic conditions induced a diuresis, so that the total water loss was only 25% less than during bicycling.     

Water intake, pleasure and water temperature in humans

The influence of water temperature on intake and affective ratings was explored in human subjects. Dehydration whether by profuse sweating (body weight loss: 289 +/- 11 g, N = 20) or mountain climbing (body weight loss: 1660 +/- 58 g, N = 20) resulted in the same intake. Maximal intake was observed for water at 15 degrees C with respectively 199.0 +/- 17.0 ml and 222.7 +/- 17.4 ml. Colder and warmer water was ingested to a lesser extent. When 20 subjects were allowed to mix water to their preferred temperature, they chose 14.9 +/- 1 degree C and drunk 211.0 +/- 19.5 ml. Votes on a pleasure/displeasure scale increased from 50 degrees C to 0 degree C. Cold water was therefore both more pleasureable and less drunk. Dehydration resulted in a negative alliesthesia for warm water. Positive alliesthesia for cold water was probably the result of hyperthermia rather than dehydration.     

LH syndrome and brain catecholamine levels after lesions of the nigrostriatal bundle

Lesions of the nigrostriatal bundle (NSB), whose fibers pass through the medial portions of the internal capsule and the immediately adjacent lateral hypothalamus (LH), produced a more severe aphagia, adipsia, and disturbance of water regulation than did lesions of the medial forebrain bundle (MFB). When deprived of food, animals with NSB lesions drank significantly less than controls and animals with MFB lesions. NSB lesions also produced greater decreases in telencephalic content of the catecholamines than MFB lesions, while the reverse was true for serotonin. Water intake during food deprivation was highly correlated with telencephalic catecholamine levels in animals with NSB lesions. Thus, the inability to regulate water intake in the absence of food, one of the characteristic and long lasting effects of the LH syndrome, appears to be due to destruction of the NSB and the consequent decline in telencephalic content of catecholamines.     

Hypotension and thirst in rats after isoproterenol treatment

Drinking induced in rats by systemic isoproterenol treatment is markedly attenuated after bilateral nephrectomy. The present experiments demonstrate that the hypotension produced by iso-proterenol treatment was more profound, and lasted much longer, in nephrectomized rats than in intact animals. When arterial blood pressure was partially elevated by central administration of angiotensin II or carbachol (Experiment 1) or by intraarterial infusion of epinephrine (Experiment 2), drinking behavior was restored in the nephrectomized animals and their water intakes approximated the amounts consumed by intact rats given isoproterenol. In general, an inverted U-shaped curve was found to define the relation between blood pressure and water intake in rats after isoproterenol treatment. Drinking was most probable when mean arterial blood pressures were in the range of 70–85 mm Hg, whereas rats were unlikely to drink when blood pressures were much below or above this range. These findings indicate that isoproterenol-induced thirst is not dependent on a renal dipsogen, and suggest instead that the hypersecretion of renin that occurs in intact rats is simply permissive of drinking behavior by modulating the hypotensive effects of the drug treatment.     

Visual perception in women during the menstrual cycle

Twelve females were tested at four times during the menstrual cycle with a visual detection task and a visual pattern discrimination task. Mood levels and confidence ratings were evaluated for each session. In addition to the behavioral testing, plasma samples were collected and radioimmunoassayed for estradiol, progesterone, luteinizing hormone, and follicle stimulating hormone levels. Visual detection fluctuated significantly during the menstrual cycle with impaired performance occurring at the premenstrual session. In contrast to previous reports, the impaired performance was not related to lowered confidence ratings or to mood levels.     

The mechanisms of fast renal compensation

Summary The changes in blood concentration which result in the adjustment of excretion when renal functioning mass is acutely reduced have been investigated by means of paired experiments on isolated dog kidneys. One kidney was perfused with undiluted blood; the other kidney was perfused with blood supplemented with an amount of water and solutes corresponding to the amount retained after the suppression of the contralateral kidney in situ; the response was evaluated from the difference in excretion between the two organs. The results may be summarized as follows: a) the adjustment of the excretion of water, sodium, potassium and urea results from small changes in blood concentration (haematocrit, plasma proteins and solutes), in the absence of specific stimuli of extrarenal origin; b) increased urea concentration is not the major determinant of the readjustment of sodium and water excretion; c) the response is potentiated by high arterial blood pressure; d) if the load of water exceeds the load of sodium, this ion is retained by the kidney even in the presence of an osmotic load of urea; e) the changes in the blood concentrations do not provide an adequate adjustment of the excretion of phosphate; f) increased excretion per nephron results from decreased fractional reabsorption without significant change in glomerular filtration rate.     

Hyperdipsia produced by severing ventral septal fiber systems.

The septum of male hooded rats (N = 59) was completely isolated from the rest of the brain (ISS) or was partially isolated by severing dorsal (DP), ventral (VP), anterior (AP), or posterior (PP) fiber tracts using a knife-cut technique. Daily water intakes and intakes following hypertonic NaCl and polyethylene glycol (PG) injections were measured. The septum totally degenerated for the ISS group and these rats had normal or hypodipsic daily intakes, likewise for intakes following NaCl and PG. Rats of the VP group sustained little septal damage, yet these cuts yielded the highest percentage (55 percent) of hyperdipsic daily drinkers of any group. The daily hyperdipsic rats drank normally in response to NaCl and PG, demonstrating a dissociation between daily drinking and drinking in response to specific thirst stimuli. The results indicate the importance of ventral fiber systems in the production of Septal Hyperdipsia, and support the notion that the septum has multiple effects upon water regulation.