Introduction: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is recognized as one of the most widespread neurodegenerative diseases, particularly in aging populations. As the predominant cause of dementia, AD is marked by progressive cognitive decline accompanied by behavioral and neuropathological alterations. The objective of the present research was to determine whether nicotine exerts any modulatory effect on the deficits in avoidance memory retention produced by scopolamine using the step-through passive avoidance task. Methods: In this experiment, 24 adult male mice were randomly assigned to three groups of eight animals: a control group, a group treated with scopolamine, and a group receiving nicotine in combination with scopolamine. Thirty minutes following drug administration on the fourth experimental day, the subjects were trained in the passive avoidance setup. Retention of the learned avoidance behavior was subsequently assessed at 24, 48, 96, and 168 hours after the training session. Results: Animals treated with scopolamine showed a significant reduction in avoidance latency compared with the control group, demonstrating that repeated intraperitoneal administration of scopolamine over 4 days impaired avoidance memory. Furthermore, nicotine at a dose of 1 mg/kg (i.p.) was able to counteract these scopolamine-induced deficits and improve memory retention. Conclusion: Overall, the results indicate that nicotine may attenuate scopolamine-induced disruptions in avoidance memory retention, potentially through enhancing cholinergic system activity.
Tabrizian et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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