Infusion of the GABAergic antagonist bicuculline into the medial septal area does not block the impairing effects of systemically administered midazolam on inhibitory avoidance retention

This experiment investigated the effect of intraseptal administration of the GABAergic antagonist bicuculline methiodide on benzodiazepine-induced amnesia. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted with cannula aimed at the medial septal area and allowed to recover for 1 week. Ten minutes prior to training in a continuous multiple trial inhibitory avoidance task, buffer solution or bicuculline methiodide (56 or 100 pmol/0.5 μl) was injected into the medial septal area. This infusion was immediately followed by systemic (ip) administration of saline or midazolam (1.5 or 3.0 mg/kg). In comparison with saline controls, animals given the higher dose of midazolam (3.0 mg/kg), required more trials to reach acquisition criterion (remaining in the starting chamber for 100 s). This midazolam-induced acquisition deficit was blocked by an intraseptal infusion of bicuculline methiodide (100 pmol). On a 48-h retention test the performance of animals given either dose of midazolam was significantly impaired relative to vehicle controls: Furthermore, although intraseptal infusion of bicuculline methiodide prior to systemic injection of midazolam blocked the midazolam-induced acquisition impairment, bicuculline did not block the midazolam-induced retention impairment. These results suggest that although the medial septal area may be involved in midazolam-induced acquisition deficits, this area is not a critical site of action for benzodiazepine-induced effects on inhibitory avoidance retention.