Characterization of the facilitative effects of perinatal choline supplementation on timing and temporal memory

• Published in: Neuroreport Vol. 8; no. 13; pp. 2831 - 2835
• Main Authors: Meck, Warren H, Williams, Christina L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hagerstown, MD Lippincott-Raven Publishers 08-09-1997; Lippincott Williams and Wilkins
• Subjects: Analysis of Variance; Animals; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Choline - pharmacology; Dietary Supplements; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Male; Memory - drug effects; Neurotransmission and behavior; Nicotine - pharmacology; Nicotinic Agonists - pharmacology; Nootropic Agents - pharmacology; Perinatal Care - methods; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Time Factors; Rat; Rodentia; Perinatal; Male; Cognition; Time perception; Dose activity relation; Vertebrata; Visual stimulus; Mammalia; Animal; Information processing; Neurotransmitter; Acetylcholine; Timing; Spatial memory
• ISSN: 0959-4965; 1473-558X
• DOI: 10.1097/00001756-199709080-00005

PERINATAL choline supplementation can improve performance on a variety of spatial memory tasks in adulthood. In order to extend these studies, we have investigated the effects of perinatal choline supplementation on the performance of a peak-interval timing task in which a 20 s temporal criterion was trained for a visual signal in adult (3–6 months old) rats. Following 5 weeks of baseline training, rats received systemic injections of nicotine (0.1, 0.2, or 0.4 mg/kg, s.c.) or saline prior to testing on the peak-interval timing task. The results indicated that perinatal choline supplementation increased ratsʼ sensitivity to the 20 s temporal criterion during baseline training and facilitated the clock speed enhancing effects of nicotine during drug testing. The present study extends the types of long-term cognitive enhancement produced by perinatal choline supplementation to include the temporal processing domain and relates these effects to modifications in cholinergic function.