Long-term administration of scopolamine, a muscarinic receptor antagonist, can inhibit the survival of newly generated cells, but its effect on the proliferation, differentiation and migration of nerve cells in the adult mouse hippocampal dentate gyrus remain poorly understood. In this study, we used immunohistochemistry and western blot methods to weekly detect the biological behaviors of nerve cells in the hippocampal dentate gyrus of adult mice that received intraperito-neal administration of scopolamine for 4 weeks. Expression of neuronal nuclear antigen (NeuN;a neuronal marker) and Fluoro-Jade B (a marker for the localization of neuronal degeneration) was also detected. After scopolamine treatment, mouse hippocampal neurons did not die, and Ki-67 (a marker for proliferating cells)-immunoreactive cells were reduced in number and reac hed the lowest level at 4 weeks. Doublecortin (DCX; a marker for newly generated neurons)-im-munoreactive cells were gradually shortened in length and reduced in number with time. After scopolamine treatment for 4 weeks, nearly all of the 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BrdU)-labeled newly generated cells were located in the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus, but they did not migrate into the granule cell layer. Few mature BrdU/NeuN double-labeled cells were seen in the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus. These ifndings suggest that long-term administration of scopolamine interferes with the proliferation, differentiation and migration of nerve cells in the adult mouse hippocampal dentate gyrus, but it does not induce cell death.

The acoustic startle response has been used to evaluate tinnitus and hyperacusis in animal models. Gap induced prepulse in-hibition of the acoustic startle reflex (gap-PPI) is affected by tinnitus and loudness changes. Since tinnitus and reduced sound tolerance are commonly seen in elderly, we measured gap-PPI in Fischer 344 rats, an aging related hearing loss model, at dif-ferent ages: 3-5 months, 9-12 months, and 15-17 months. The startle response was induced by three different intensity of sound:105, 95 and 85 dB SPL. Gap-PPI was induced by different duration of silent gaps from 1 to 100 ms. When the startle was induced by 105 dB SPL sound intensity, the gap-PPI induced by 50 ms silent gap was significantly lower than those in-duced by 25 or 100 ms duration, showing a“notch”in the gap-PPI function. The“notch”disappeared with the reduction of startle sound, suggesting the“notch”may be related with hyper-sensitivity to loud sound. As the intensity of the stimulus de-creased, the appearance of the hyperacusis-like effect decreased more quickly for the youngest group of rats. We also tested scopolamine, a muscarinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist, and mecamylamine, a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor antago-nist, on the effect of gap-PPI. When scopolamine was administered, the results indicated no addition effect on the hyperacu-sis-like phenomenon in the two older groups. Mecamylamine, the nicotinic antagonist also showed effects on the appearance of hyperacusis on rats in different ages. The information derived from the study will be fundamental for the further research in determining the cause and treatment for hyperacusis.