Effects of purine analogues on spontaneous alternation in mice

The Y-maze was used to examine the effects of purines acting at A1 and A2 adenosine receptors upon spontaneous alternation, a model of working memory, in mice. In support of previous work, scopolamine produced a loss of spontaneous alternation behaviour to the 0.5 chance level. The A1 receptor selective agonist N6- cyclopentyladenosine (CPA) did not change spontaneous alternation behaviour alone, but it prevented the decrease of spontaneous alternation scores produced by scopolamine. The A1 receptor selective antagonist 1,3-dipropyl-8-cyclopentylxanthine (CPX) blocked the effect of CPA in combination with scopolamine but had no effect alone. The A2 receptor selective agonist (N6-[2-(3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-2-(2- methylphenyl)ethyl] adenosine (DPMA), and the A2 receptor selective antagonist 3,7-dimethyl-1-propargylxanthine (DMPX) had no effect of alternation behaviour alone and did not modify the effect of scopolamine. The results indicate the ability of A1 but not A2 receptor activation to modify working memory deficits induced by scopolamine, but suggest that endogenous adenosine does not normally participate in working memory processes.