| Abstract: | Proinflammatory cytokines have been shown to disrupt the normal transfer of short-term memory to long-term storage sites. Previous research has focused predominantly on the effect of cytokines on hippocampus-mediated spatial learning. To further understand the effects of cytokines on learning and memory, the authors evaluated the effects of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) on a motor learning task. Male Long-Evans rats were rewarded with food pellets after they traversed a runway. The runway was either flat (control condition) or had up-ended dowels (motor learning condition). Subjects traversed the flat runway or dowel task for 5 days, 10 trials per day, and were treated with either saline or with 4 μg/kg IL-1β immediately after training on the first 2 days. Rats in the motor learning task treated with IL-1β were consistently slower at traversing the runway. IL-1β did not impair performance in the control condition; rats in the flat condition performed similarly regardless of whether they were treated with saline or IL-1β. These data are the first evidence demonstrating IL-1β can disrupt performance in a motor learning task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
