Cholinergic denervation attenuates phencyclidine-induced c-fos responses in rat cortical neurons.
Neuroscience August 2, 2012 S Savage, A Mattsson, L Olson
The cortical cholinergic innervation, important for memory and cognition, may be involved in schizophrenia. Using the dissociative drug phencyclidine (PCP) to model schizophrenia in rats, researchers monitored rapid effects of low doses (2 and 3 mg/kg) on neural activation via c-fos mRNA in cortical areas. PCP induced c-fos mRNA across nearly all cortical areas without altering BDNF or Nogo receptor mRNA levels. Unilateral lesioning of cholinergic projections to the cortex by 192-IgG-saporin in the nucleus basalis magnocellularis caused a striking ipsilateral decrease in PCP-induced c-fos induction, restricted to denervated areas. The findings suggest that PCP acts through cholinergic input to activate cortical neurons, supporting a role for the cholinergic system in schizophrenia symptoms.