Cholinergic Internal and Projection Systems of Hippocampus and Neocortex Critical for Early Spatial Memory Consolidation in Normal and Chronic Cerebral Hypoperfusion Conditions in Rats with Different Abilities to Consolidation: The Role of Cholinergic Interneurons of the Hippocampus

The role of cholinergic projection systems of the neocortex and hippocampus in memory consolidation in healthy and neuropathological conditions has been subject to intensive research. On the contrary, the significance of cholinergic cortical and hippocampal interneurons in learning has hardly been studied. We aimed to evaluate the role of both cholinergic projection neurons and interneurons of the neocortex and hippocampus at an early stage of spatial memory consolidation (2s1) in normal and chronic brain hypoperfusion conditions. Control rats and rats subjected to permanent two-vessel occlusion were trained with the Morris water maze, and the activity of membrane-bound and water-soluble choline acetyltransferase was evaluated in the sub-fractions of ‘light’ and ‘heavy’ synaptosomes of the neocortex and hippocampus, in which the presynapses of cholinergic projections and interneurons, respectively, are concentrated. Animals were ranked into quartiles according to their performance on stage 2s1. We found: (1) quartile-dependent cholinergic composition of 2s1 function and dynamics of cholinergic synaptic plasticity under cerebral hypoperfusion; (2) cholinergic hippocampal interneurons are necessary for successful 2s1 consolidation; (3) cholinergic neocortical interneurons and projections can be critical for 2s1 consolidation in less learning rats. We conclude that targeted modulation of cholinergic synaptic activity in the hippocampus and neocortex can be effective in reversing the cognitive disturbance of cerebral hypoperfusion. We discuss the possible ways to restore the impaired spatial memory 2s1 in the presence of cerebral hypoperfusion.