An update on the role of the 5-hydroxytryptamine6 receptor in cognitive function

Activation of 5-HT(6) receptors facilitates attentional set shifting

RATIONALE

Prefrontal cortex (PFC)-dependent executive function is disrupted in a range of psychiatric disorders and can be modelled in non-human primates and rodents using attentional set-shifting paradigms. There are few current pharmacological strategies for enhancing attentional set shifting, although the PFC is rich in relevant neurotransmitter targets, including 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT). Although 5-HT depletion studies do not support a role for 5-HT in attentional set shifting, the effect of 5-HT activation using specific receptor agonists has not been tested.

OBJECTIVES AND METHODS

This study investigated the effect of a novel, selective 5-HT(6) receptor agonist, WAY181187, in a rat model of PFC-dependent extra-dimensional (ED) attentional set shifting. The effect of this agent on immediate early gene expression in the medial PFC and other regions was also examined.

RESULTS

Compared to vehicle-injected controls, WAY181187 facilitated ED set shifting but did not change other non-ED phases of the task (including intra-dimensional set shifting and reversal). This effect was blocked by the selective 5-HT(6) antagonist SB399885, which alone had no effect. WAY181187 enhanced ED set shifting even when administered after the attentional set had been acquired, thereby ruling out impairments in attentional set formation. In separate experiments, at a dose that increased ED set shifting, WAY181187 increased Fos-like immunoreactivity in the medial PFC in a SB399885-sensitive manner, suggesting a 5-HT(6) receptor-mediated activation of this region.

CONCLUSIONS

Through use of a novel 5-HT agonist, these experiments reveal a previously unrecognised role for 5-HT activation in PFC-dependent executive function, mediated by 5-HT(6) receptor activation.

Activation of the 5-HT(6) receptor attenuates long-term potentiation and facilitates GABAergic neurotransmission in rat hippocampus

The 5-HT(6) receptor is predominantly expressed in the CNS and has been implicated in the regulation of cognitive function. Antagonists of the 5-HT(6) receptor improve cognitive performance in a number of preclinical models and have recently been found to be effective in Alzheimer's disease patients. Systemic administration of 5-HT(6) antagonists increases the release of acetylcholine and glutamate in the frontal cortex and dorsal hippocampus. In contrast, the selective 5-HT(6) agonist, WAY-181187, can elicit robust increases in extracellular levels of GABA. The reported behavioral and neurochemical effects of 5-HT(6) receptor ligands raise the possibility that the 5-HT(6) receptor may modulate synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus. In the present study, selective pharmacological tools were employed to determine the effect of 5-HT(6) receptor activation on long-term potentiation (LTP) in brain slices containing area CA1 of the hippocampus. While having no effect on baseline synaptic transmission, the results demonstrate that the selective 5-HT(6) agonist, WAY-181187, attenuated LTP over a narrow dose range (100-300 nM). The increase in the slope of the field excitatory post synaptic potential (fEPSP) caused by theta burst stimulation in brain slices treated with the most efficacious dose of WAY-181187 (200 nM) was 80.1+/-4.0% of that observed in controls. This effect was dose-dependently blocked by the selective 5-HT(6) antagonist, SB-399885. WAY-181187 also increased the frequency of spontaneous GABA release in area CA1. As assessed by measuring and evaluating spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sIPSCs), 200 nM WAY-181187 increased sIPSC frequency by 3.4+/-0.9 Hz. This increase in GABA sIPSCs was prevented by the selective 5-HT(6) antagonist SB-399885 (300 nM). Taken together, these results suggest that the 5-HT(6) receptor plays a role in the modulation of synaptic plasticity in hippocampal area CA1 and that the regulation of GABAergic interneuron activity may underlie the cognition enhancing effects of 5-HT(6) antagonists.

Impact of regional 5-HT depletion on the cognitive enhancing effects of a typical 5-ht(6) receptor antagonist, Ro 04-6790, in the Novel Object Discrimination task

RATIONALE

Selective 5-ht(6) receptor antagonists like Ro 04-6790 prolong memory in many rodent preclinical paradigms, possibly by blocking tonic 5-HT-evoked GABA release and allowing disinhibition of cortico-limbic glutamatergic and cholinergic neurones. If this is the case, behavioural responses to Ro 04-6790 should be abolished by depletion of endogenous 5-HT, and selective lesions of dorsal raphé (DR) or median raphé (MR) 5-HT pathways would allow the neuroanatomical substrates underlying the cognitive effects of 5-ht(6) receptor antagonists to be elucidated.

OBJECTIVES

This study compared the effect of Ro 04-6790 on novel object discrimination (NOD) before and after sham or 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine (5,7-DHT)-induced lesions produced by injection into the lateral ventricles (LV), DR or MR.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

NOD tests used a 4 h inter-trial interval (ITI) and Ro 04-6790 (10 mg kg(-1) i.p.) was administered 20 min before the familiarization trial. Brain region-specific 5-HT depletion was assessed by high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (HPLC-ED).

RESULTS

Widespread LV or selective MR, but not DR lesions, abolished the ability of Ro 04-6790 to delay natural forgetting. Successful performance of all lesioned rats in subsequent 'drug-free' NOD tests using a 1 h ITI excluded the possibility of any confounding effects on visual acuity or motivation.

CONCLUSIONS

The ability of Ro 04-6790 to prolong object recognition memory requires blockade of MR 5-HT function. Because DR lesions did not produce the expected depletion of striatal 5-HT an additional contribution of DR inputs to this region cannot be completely excluded.

Do rats really express neophobia towards novel objects? Experimental evidence from exposure to novelty and to an object recognition task in an open space and an enclosed space

Three set of experiments were performed in an enclosed space (open-field) and in an open space (elevated platform). The surface of the open-field and the elevated platform were divided in nine equal squares. Rats were exposed (without previous habituation) in a unique session (experiment 1) or three consecutive sessions (experiment 2) either to an open-field (enclosed space) or to an elevated platform (open space) with and without an object on the centre of the field. In experiment 3, rats were exposed (without previous habituation) either to an enclosed or an open space on five consecutive sessions, one session a day. They were tested in an object recognition test in sessions 1, 3 and 5. In sessions 2 and 4, no objects were present. In experiment 1, we recorded the latency, frequency and duration of entries into different areas of the field. In experiment 3, we recorded the latency, frequency and duration of contacts with objects in addition to entries into different areas of the field. The first experiment demonstrates that rats exposed for the first time to an enclosed or an open space do not express neophobia toward novel objects in the absence of walls that surround an open-field. They crossed frequently into and spent more time in areas occupied with an object than in unoccupied areas. After two sessions of habituation to an empty open space or an empty enclosed space, the latency of first approach to a novel object is reduced while the frequency and duration of approaches are increased. The third experiment on object recognition confirmed that rats do not avoid novel objects; they made frequent visit and spent more time in the corner of the field occupied with an object than in empty corners. Recording of crossings provided detailed information about the patterns of exploratory behavior of rats but failed to reveal discrimination between novel and familiar objects which was evident in both open and enclosed space with recording of contacts with objects on the fifth exposure.

Ex vivo study of 5-HT(1A) and 5-HT(7) receptor agonists and antagonists on cAMP accumulation during memory formation and amnesia

The cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) is a second messenger and a central component of intracellular signaling pathways that regulate a wide range of biological functions, including memory. Hence, in this work, firstly the time-course of memory formation was determined in an autoshaping learning task, which had allowed the identification of testing times for increases or decreases in performance. Next, untrained, trained and overtrained groups were compared in cAMP production. Moreover, selective stimulation and antagonism of 5-HT(1A) and 5-HT(7) receptors during memory formation and cAMP production were determined. Finally, since there is scarce information about how pharmacological models of amnesia affect cAMP production, the cholinergic or glutamatergic antagonists, scopolamine and dizocilpine, were tested. The major findings of this work showed that when the time-course was determined inasmuch as training and testing sessions occurred, memory performance was graduate and progressive. Notably, for the fourth to seventh (i.e., 48-120 h following autoshaping training session) testing session performance was significantly higher from the previous ones. When animals received 5-HT(1A) and 5-HT(7) receptor agonists and antagonists or amnesic drugs significant increases or decrements in memory performance were observed at 24 and 48 h. Moreover, when ex vivo cAMP production from trained and overtrained groups were compared to untrained ones, significant differences were observed among groups and brain areas. Trained animals treated with 8-OHDPAT, AS19, 8-OHDPAT plus AS19, WAY100635, SB-269970, scopolamine or dizocilpine were compared to similar untrained groups, and eightfold-reduced cAMP production was evident, showing the importance of cAMP production in the signaling case in mammalian memory formation.