Brain noradrenaline and varieties of alternation learning

Depletion of noradrenaline from the locus coeruleus system was effected by intraperitoneal injection of 6-hydroxydopamine to neonatal rat pups. Spontaneous, and two paradigms of rewarded alternation behaviour were examined in a T-maze. No change was seen in spontaneous alternation but marked impairment in acquisition of one of the two rewarded alternation tasks was found. It is concluded that powerful support is offered to previous results using intracerebral adult 6-hydroxydopamine administration.