The effects of dorsal noradrenergic bundle lesions on spatial learning, locomotor activity, and reaction to novelty

The dorsal noradrenergic bundle (DNB) of male Wistar rats was lesioned bilaterally using intracerebral injections of 6-hydroxydopamine neurotoxin. Some of the rats were trained in a water maze using an "alternation" strategy, where the two positions of the hidden platform in the pool were changed between successive trials in the daily tests, and other rats in a water maze, where the temperature of the water was lowered to about 11 degrees C. The rats trained in the cold-water maze were also tested in open-field and saccharin neophobia tests. No differences were found between the two groups in learning of water maze tasks or in locomotor activity in the open-field tests. However, the saccharin neophobia test revealed an increased neophobia in the DNB-lesioned rats.