Involvement of central amygdala muscarinic receptors in morphine-induced amnesia in rat

Introduction: Learning and memory processes result from interaction of neurotransmitter systems in various brain regions such as amygdala and hippocampus. Considering that morphine induces memory impairment, in the current study, we examined the possible role of cholinergic muscarinic receptor s of the central amygdala (CeA) on the morphine-induced amnesia in adult male Wistar rats. Methods: A week after the surgery during which cannulas w ere bilaterally implanted in the CeA nuclei of the amygdale, the animals were trained and tested in a step-through type passive avoidance task with 24 h interval time. Memory retrieval was measu red by step-through latency, which is the latency to enter into the black shocked