The nicotinic α7 receptor agonist GTS-21 but not the nicotinic α4β2 receptor agonist ABT-418 attenuate the disrupting effects of anesthetic ketamine on recognition memory in rats.

Several lines of evidence indicate that anesthetic doses of the non-competitive N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist ketamine disrupt memory functions in rodents. The mechanism by which anesthetic ketamine produces its adverse behavioural effects is not yet clarified. The implication of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor as a potential site of action of anesthetic ketamine adverse effects on memory is proposed. We investigated the ability of α4β2 nicotinic receptor agonist ABT-418 (0.01, 0.03, 0.1 mg/kg, i.p.) and α7 nicotinic receptor agonist GTS-21 (0.3, 1, 3 mg/kg, i.p.) to counteract recognition memory deficits produced by acute post-training administration of anesthetic ketamine (100 mg/kg, i.p.) in rats. For this purpose, the novel object recognition test, a behavioural paradigm assessing recognition memory abilities in rodents was used. Post-training acute administration of GTS-21 (3 mg/kg) counteracted anesthetic ketamine-induced performance deficits in the novel object recognition memory task. By contrast, ABT-418 failed to reverse the recognition memory deficits caused by anesthetic ketamine. The present findings propose that an α7 nicotinic receptor component might modulate anesthetic ketamine's adverse effects on recognition memory.