Reduction of vesicular acetylcholine transporter in β-amyloid protein-infused rats with memory impairment

The aim of this study was to investigate spatial memory and quantitative acetylcholine transporter autoradiography using a high-sensitivity imaging plate system in rats treated with β-amyloid protein, a model of Alzheimerʼs disease. An eight-arm radial maze was used to evaluate spatial memory. The performance of the eight-arm radial maze task was impaired in β-amyloid protein-treated rats. In the parietal cortex, [H]-vesamicol binding to the vesicular acetylcholine transporter was significantly lower in β-amyloid protein-treated rats than in vehicle-treated rats, and was significantly correlated with the mean number of correct selections in the maze task of the first 5 days in the post-operative state. These results indicate that the reduction in [H]-vesamicol binding to vesicular acetylcholine transporter is related to memory impairment induced by β-amyloid protein. β-Amyloid protein-infused rats with spatial memory impairment may be useful for the development of new radiolabelled vesamicol analogues for the objective evaluation of Alzheimerʼs disease.