Nicotine improvement of Morris water task performance after fimbria-fornix lesion is blocked by mecamylamine

The focus of this study was to analyze the effects of nicotine on behavioural compensation after fimbria-fornix (FF) lesions in rats tested on the Morris water task (MWT). Nicotine (0.3 mg/kg) was injected subcutaneously for 11 consecutive days before, for 11 consecutive days after, or for 11 consecutive days before and after a FF lesion. Additionally, a lesion group was included that was given mecamylamine (1.0 mg/kg), a nicotine antagonist, 10 min before nicotine administration as well as mecamylamine-only, no treatment lesion, and sham groups. All drug administration ceased 24 h before three consecutive days of behavioural testing on the MWT. Results showed that the sham group and animals receiving both a pre- and post-lesion treatment of nicotine performed significantly better than all other groups, and the pre- and post-lesion nicotine group performed equivalent to sham controls on both acquisition and a probe trial. The compensatory effect of nicotine was blocked by mecamylamine. This study demonstrates that nicotine stimulates recovery from brain damage and the results are discussed in relation to neural mechanisms and potential applications.