SPATIAL DISCRIMINATION-LEARNING AND CHOLINE-ACETYLTRANSFERASE ACTIVITY IN STREPTOZOTOCIN-TREATED RATS - EFFECTS OF CHRONIC TREATMENT WITH ACETYL-L-CARNITINE

Treatment of rats with i.c.v. injected streptozotocin (STREP) may prov ide a relevant model of neurodegeneration that is induced by a decreas e in the central metabolism of glucose. Acetyl-L-carnitine (ALCAR) enh ances the utilization of alternative energy sources and by such a mech anism of action ALCAR could antagonize the effects of STREP treatment. In this study the effects of chronic treatment with ALCAR were evalua ted on spatial discrimination learning in the Morris task and choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity of middle-aged STREP-treated rats. C hronic treatment with ALCAR attenuated both the STREP-induced impairme nt in spatial bias and the decrease in hippocampal ChAT activity. Thes e findings indicate that ALCAR treatment has a neuroprotective effect, although further studies are needed to characterize the mechanism of action of ALCAR in this model.