Figure 1

Cholinergic stimulation improves cognitive outcome after surgery and LPS administration. (A) Mice were operated on within 30 min after training. At 24 h the S+LPS-group received 1 mg/kg LPS and a bolus injection of PHA 568487 or saline after 2 h. (B) Contextual fear response, as measured by freezing behavior, is impaired in animals receiving surgery followed by LPS exposure as compared with naïve (saline injected) or surgery groups. Administration of a selective α7 nAChR agonist (PHA) significantly improved the cognitive abnormality. (C) Open field was performed after TFC to measure general locomotor activity for a duration of 5 min; no differences in general activity were observed among groups. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM, n = 10. (*P < 0.05 versus C; **P < 0.01 versus C; ^#P < 0.05 versus S; ^&P < 0.05 versus LPS; ^{^^}P < 0.01 versus S+LPS). C, control; S, surgery; PHA, PHA 568487; TFC, trace fear conditioning; OF, open field.