V1a receptor knockout mice exhibit impairment of spatial memory in an eight-arm radial maze

• Published in: Neuroscience letters Vol. 356; no. 3; pp. 195 - 198
• Main Authors: Egashira, Nobuaki, Tanoue, Akito, Higashihara, Fuminori, Mishima, Kenichi, Fukue, Yoshihiko, Takano, Yukio, Tsujimoto, Gozoh, Iwasaki, Katsunori, Fujiwara, Michihiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 19-02-2004; Elsevier
• Subjects: Analysis of Variance; Animals; Antidiuretic Hormone Receptor Antagonists; Biological and medical sciences; Choice Behavior - physiology; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Eight-arm radial maze; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Knockout mice; Male; Maze Learning - drug effects; Maze Learning - physiology; Memory Disorders - genetics; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Knockout - physiology; OPC-21268; Piperidines - pharmacology; Quinolones - pharmacology; Receptors, Vasopressin - deficiency; Receptors, Vasopressin - genetics; Receptors, Vasopressin - metabolism; Spatial Behavior - drug effects; Spatial Behavior - physiology; Spatial memory; Vasopressin V1a receptor; Vasopressin V1b receptor; Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs; Eight-arm radial maze; Vasopressin V1a receptor; Knockout mice; Vasopressin V1b receptor; OPC-21268; Spatial memory; V1b vasopressin receptor; Rodentia; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Mouse; Animal; V1a vasopressin receptor; Mutation; Biological receptor
• ISSN: 0304-3940; 1872-7972
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2003.11.050

In this study, we examined the performance of vasopressin V1a receptor (V1aR) and vasopressin V1b receptor (V1bR) knockout (KO) mice compared to wild-type (WT) mice in an eight-arm radial maze. V1aR KO mice exhibited an impairment of spatial memory in comparison to WT mice. By contrast, we did not observe any significant differences between the V1bR KO mice and the WT mice in the eight-arm radial maze. Moreover, OPC-21268, a selective V1aR antagonist, impaired spatial memory in the eight-arm radial maze in WT mice characterized by an increased number of errors. These results suggest that the V1aR controls spatial memory in mice.