Desformylflustrabromine, a positive allosteric modulator of α4β2-containing nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, enhances cognition in rats.

ABSTRACT:

Rationale

The α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (α4β2-nAChRs) may represent useful targets for cognitive improvement. It has been recently proposed that a strategy based on positive allosteric modulation of α4β2-nAChRs reveals several advantages over the direct agonist approach. Nevertheless, the procognitive effects of α4β2-nAChR positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) have not been extensively characterized.

Objectives

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the procognitive efficacy of desformylflustrabromine (dFBr), a selective α4β2-nAChR PAM.

Methods

Cognitive effects were investigated in the novel object recognition task (NORT) and the attentional set-shifting task (ASST) in rats.

Results

The results demonstrate that dFBr attenuated the delay-indu

SUBMITTER: Nikiforuk A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7329799 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature