Buspirone impairs performance of a three-choice working memory water escape task in rats

Two studies were conducted to assess the effects of buspirone and alprazolam on a three-choice working memory water escape task. Both studies involved giving rats three daily trials, each trial consisting of an information run during which guillotine doors forced the rats to swim into the correct escape alley and a test run during which the rats could enter any of the three alleys but escape only on entering the same alley to which they had been forced on the information run. In the first experiment, rats were trained to a 70% correct choice criterion with 5-min interrun intervals and then tested for performance with 5, 20, 20 with distraction and 60-min interrun intervals. In the second experiment, rats in each of the drug groups were tested after receiving one of three different doses of their respective drug. Results suggest that 1.0, 3.0, and 10.0 mg/kg buspirone but not 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 mg/kg alprazolam impaired performance of rats on a three-choice working memory water escape task.