Scopolamine's effect on passive avoidance behavior in immature rats

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Abstract
Male albino rats ranging in age from 15--30 days were injected with either scopolamine hydrobromide or saline, prior to training and retention testing on a black-white passive avoidance (PA) task. Pretraining administration of a 1.0-mg/kg dose of scopolamine significantly increased the median number of trials to criterion for 18-, 21-, and 30-day-old rat pups when compared with their saline controls. Fifteen-day-olds showed drug-related PA deficits when a 2.0-mg/kg dose was given. Retention data reflect characteristic age-dependent memory loss over the 1-week acquisitionretention period with no apparent state-dependent effects. The data suggest the presence of cholinergic inhibitory mediation of PA responding in preweanling and postweanling pups.