Chronic NMDA Antagonism Impairs Working Memory, Decreases Extracellular Dopamine, and Increases D1 Receptor Binding in Prefrontal Cortex of Conscious Monkeys

This study demonstrates that dizocilpine (MK-801), a noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, impairs working memory of conscious behaving monkeys. In addition, acute and chronic MK-801 produces different effects on D1 and D2 receptor binding in prefrontal cortex (PFC). Extrastriatal neocortical receptor D1 (D1R) and D2 (D2R) binding were assayed by [11C]NNC112 and [11C]FLB457, respectively, using high-specific radioactivity and a specially designed monkey positron emission tomograph (PET). Acute single dose (0.03, 0.1, and 0.3 mg/kg) i.v. administration of MK-801 resulted in dose-related impairment of working memory performance of an oculomotor delayed response (ODR) task. There was no impairment of performance of a visually guided saccade (VGS) task with low doses of 0.03 and 0.1, but it was depressed with 0.3 mg/kg. Chronic daily MK-801 (0.03 mg/kg, i.m., b.i.d. for 13 days) induced impaired ODR task performance with no effect on the VGS task. Although acute single doses of MK-801 caused no significant changes in [11C]NNC112 binding to PFC D1R, chronic daily treatment increased binding about 14% (P<.05). Acute MK-801 dose-dependently decreased [11C]FLB457 binding about 35% (P<.01) to PFC D2R; chronic treatment had no significant effect. Microdialysis analyses demonstrated that acute single doses of MK-801 (0.03 and 0.1 mg/kg) increased extracellular glutamate and dopamine (DA) levels in PFC. Chronic MK-801 gradually lowered glutamate and DA levels in PFC. The results demonstrate in conscious, unanesthetized primates that MK-801 induces impairment of PFC function, as measured by working memory performance. Furthermore, in response to lowered levels of DA in PFC, D1R binding is increased, whereas D2R binding is not.