Cited by 94Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research

Selective depletion of cortical noradrenaline by anti-dopamine beta-hydroxylase-saporin impairs attentional function and enhances the effects of guanfacine in the rat

Open access
Milstein, Jean A., Lehmann, Olivia, Theobald, David E. H., Dalley, Jeffrey W., Robbins, Trevor W.·2007·Psychopharmacology

Abstract

Rationale Previous data indicate that depletion of cortical noradrenaline (NA) impairs performance of an attentional five-choice serial reaction time task (5CSRT) under certain conditions. This study employed a novel immunotoxin, anti-dopamine-beta hydroylase (DbetaH)-saporin, to make relatively selective lesions of the noradrenergic projections to the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in rats trained to perform the 5CSRT.Objectives The aim of this work is to examine (1) the effect of cortical noradrenaline depletion on sustained attentional performance in the 5CSRT under a variety of test conditions and (2) the effects of guanfacine, a selective alpha-2 adrenoceptor agonist on attentional performance in sham and NA-depleted rats.Materials and methods Animals received either intramedial prefrontal anti-DbetaH-saporin or vehicle and were tested on the baseline task with a variety of additional manipulations including (1) decreasing target duration, (2) increasing rate and (3) temporal unpredictability of target presentation and (4) systemic guanfacine.Results Anti-DbetaH-saporin infused into the PFC produced a substantial loss of DbetaH-positive fibers in that region and in other adjacent cortical areas. There was no significant depletion of DA or 5-HT. NA-depleted animals were not impaired on the baseline task, but were slower to respond correctly under high event rate conditions, and their discriminative accuracy was reduced when stimulus predictability decreased. Guanfacine significantly reduced discriminative accuracy in NA-depleted animals only.Conclusion Selective cortical NA depletion produced deficits on the 5CSRT test of sustained attention, especially when the attentional load was increased and in response to systemic guanfacine. These results are consistent with a role of coeruleo-cortical NA in the regulation of effortful attentional processes.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1007/s00213-006-0594-x

Cites

44 of 44 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Everitt BJ Robbins TW Selden NRW Marsden CA Heal DJ Functions of the locus coeruleus noradrenergic system: a neurobiological and behavioural synthesis Pharmacology of Noradrenaline 1990 349 378 Oxford Oxford University Press

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Milstein, J. A., Lehmann, O., Theobald, D. E. H., Dalley, J. W., & Robbins, T. W.
Affiliations
University of Cambridge (GB)
Corresponding author
Robbins, Trevor W.
Venue
Psychopharmacology
Published
2006-11-10
Volume
190
Issue
1
Pages
51-63
ISSN
  • 0033-3158 (ISSN-L)
  • 1432-2072
OpenAlex
W2115974881
Cited by
94
References
44
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 4
FWCI
2.02
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Psychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Wellcome Trust (076244)
  • Medical Research Council
  • National Institute of Mental Health
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
Keywords
immunotoxins, prefrontal cortex, sustained attention, 5-choice serial reaction time task, guanfacine, alpha-2 adrenergic agonists, discriminative accuracy, attentional load
MeSH terms
Saporins, Adrenergic alpha-Agonists, Animals, Antibodies, Monoclonal, Arousal, Attention, Brain, Brain Mapping, Cerebral Cortex, Choice Behavior, Discrimination Learning, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Locus Coeruleus, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Nerve Fibers, Nerve Net, Norepinephrine, Rats, Inbred Strains, Reaction Time, Serial Learning, Stimulation, Chemical, Guanfacine, Prefrontal Cortex, Rats, Ribosome Inactivating Proteins, Type 1

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review