Lobeline-induced learning improvement of rats in the radial-arm maze

Lobeline is a nicotinic ligand with some nicotine-like effects, but with some atypical effects as well, including actions as a nicotinic antagonist. Lobeline, like nicotine, has been found to significantly improve memory function as well as provide anxiolytic-like effects in the elevated plus maze. Lobeline effects on learning remain to be fully characterized. Nicotine has been found to improve learning of shock avoidance tasks. Other nicotinic agonists also have been shown to improve learning performance. However, this effect is limited. In some tasks, nicotine has been found to cause deficits. In the current study, effects of lobeline and nicotine injections were assessed in a repeated acquisition procedure in the radial-arm maze for 3 weeks of drug administration. Lobeline (0.3 and 0.9 mg/kg) improved learning on the radial-arm maze. Neither nicotine dose (0.1 and 0.3 mg/kg) improved learning. This nicotine dose range was previously found to improve post-acquisition working memory performance in the radial-arm maze. The atypical effects of lobeline may underlie its greater efficacy than nicotine for improving repeated acquisition. The effect of lobeline improving learning may be useful in the development of novel treatments for learning deficits.