The Effect of L-arginine in the Ventral Tegmenta Area on the Improving Effect of Nicotine on Memory

Nitric oxide synthesis has been detected in ventral tegmental area, which is a key brain region that seems to mediate behavioral effect of morphine and nicotine. In the present study, the effects of L-arginine, a nitric oxide precursor, in the ventral tegmental area in nicotine’s effect on morphine-induced amnesia has been investigated. This study was done experimentally on 250 male rats. Rats were anesthetized with intra-peritoneal injection of ketamine hydrochloride, plus xylazine and then placed in a stereotaxic apparatus. Two stainless-steel cannuale were placed in the ventral tegmental area. The behavioral testing was started in inhibitory avoidance task, and the step-through latency for entering into the dark compartment was measured for the assessment of memory retention. One-side analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey test were used to evaluate the statistical significance between experimental groups. A difference of p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Post-training injection of morphine (5 and 7.5mg/kg) decreased the memory retrieval. Injection of nicotine or L-arginine before test by itself has no effect on memory retrieval. On the other hand, pre-test administration of morphine (7.5mg/kg), nicotine (0.5 and 1mg/kg), L-arginine or ineffective doses of L-arginine plus non-effective dose of nicotine restored memory impairment induced by post-training injection of morphine. The finding of the study indicate that nitric oxide system of the ventral tegmental area may play an important role in the improving effect of nicotine on the morphine-induced amnesia.