Effects of PD149163 on working memory in a delayed non-match to position task

• Main Author: Thornton, Jennifer L
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-2012
• Subjects: Clinical psychology; Cognitive psychology; Physiological psychology
• ISBN: 9781267327949; 1267327944

Schizophrenia is a chronic and debilitating disorder that affects approximately 1 percent of the population. Cognitive deficits have been recognized one of the core features of schizophrenia, and have also been linked to functional outcome. Working memory is among the cognitive deficits observed in patients with schizophrenia and is thought to be one of the underlying mechanisms of other cognitive functions. Current antipsychotics mainly address positive symptoms, and do little for negative symptoms or cognitive deficits. Neurotensin is a hypotensive peptide that has been implicated as a possible antipsychotic mechanism. In preclinical trials, neurotensin agonists have been shown to have a pharmacological profile similar to atypical antipsychotic drugs. The present study assessed the effects of neurotensin-1 agonist PD149163 (0.0625-0.25 mg/kg) in a delayed non-match to position working memory task as well as typical antipsychotic haloperidol (0.025-0.20 mg/kg), atypical antipsychotic risperidone (0.125-1.0), atypical antipsychotic clozapine (0.625-5.0 mg/kg) and NMDA antagonist MK-801 (0.025-0.10). The present study revealed that both typical and atypical antipsychotics, haloperidol and risperidone respectively, impair working memory. PD149163 appears to be similar to clozapine in that it does not alter percent accuracy. The results of this study suggest that PD149163 may be similar clozapine regarding efficacy for working memory impairments.