Effect of nembutal anesthesia,electric shock,and shock avoidance conditioning on acetylcholinesterase activity and protein content in various regions of the rat brain

Nembutal pentobarbital sodium] was found to increase the protein content in some regions of the rat brain (posterior cortex, caudate nucleus) and to decrease the protein content in the ventral cortex. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, expressed in terms of wet tissue weight, increased in the cerebellum and medulla, but decreased in the medial cortex, hippocampus, thalamus, and the caudate nucleus. These changes in AChE activity were not explicable in terms of a direct effect of the anesthetic on the enzyme. A decrease in the protein content was observed in the frontal cortex, ventral cortex, hippocampus, and the caudate nucleus after electric shock is applied. Following shock avoidance conditioning, a decrease in protein content was observed in the medial cortex, posterior cortex, cerebellum, and the ventral cortex; the protein content increased in the thalamus. An increase in AChE activity was observed in the frontal cortex and in the medulla after shock, but its content decreased in the caudate nucleus, hypothalamus, thalamus, and the olfactory bulb. Following shock avoidance conditioning AChE activity increased in the posterior cortex, hippocampus, thalamus, and hypothalamus, but decreased in the ventral cortex.Translated from Zhurnal Evclyutsionnoi Biokhimii i Fiziologii, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 254–262, May–June, 1979.