Differential roles for nicotinic and muscarinic cholinergic receptors in sustained visuo-spatial attention? A study using a 5-arm maze protocol in mice.

A 5-arm maze was used to measure sustained visuo-spatial attention in C57Bl/6 mice and test the hypothesis of differential functional roles for central nicotinic and muscarinic receptors in mediating task performance. Mice were first trained to acquire the basic visual discrimination task in which, on each trial, one randomly chosen arm among the five open arms was baited and remained lit until an arm-choice was made. Mice were then submitted to attentional testing in which trials using light signals of 2, 1 or 0.