H.M. Marston

TL;DR: It was notable that many of the deficits following either ibotenate- or quisqualate-induced lesions lasted for several months after surgery, which makes these preparations suitable for further exploration of the restorative effects of cholinergic treatments.

TL;DR: The AMPA- and perhaps also the ibotenate-induced impairment in the retention of passive avoidance appears to be more directly related to destruction of cholinergic neurons of the nucleus basalis of Meynert and to depend instead on damage to pallidal and other neurons in this area.

TL;DR: The results do not indicate a simple relationship between cholinergic neuronal loss and the retention of response rules essential for performance of the task ("reference memory"), and contingency analysis of the behavioural, neurochemical and neuroanatomical data indicated that those animals with the largest decreases in choline acetyltransferase activity, or the largest areas of neuronal loss in the ventral and dorsal globus pallidus, were most impaired in the retention.

TL;DR: It is suggested that quisqualic acid, although also nonspecific in its excitotoxic effects, is nevertheless more selective for producing damage to cholinergic neurons in the ventral pallidum/substantia innominata than ibotenic acid.

TL;DR: It is concluded that additional cholinergic de-afferentation of the cingulate cortex produced by the septal/VDB lesion is of functional significance and may lead to deficits in conditional rule learning, which can contribute to spatial navigation performance under certain circumstances.