Adolescent exposure to nicotine impairs adult serial pattern learning in rats

In the present study investigating the effects of adolescent nicotine exposure on adult serial pattern learning, adolescent rats received daily i.p. injections of either 1.0 mg/kg nicotine or saline for 5 days per week for 5 weeks beginning on postnatal day 25 (P25), then were allowed 35 days drug free. Rats then began training on P95 as adults on a 24-element serial pattern composed of eight 3-element chunks. Adolescent exposure to 1.0 mg/kg nicotine produced persistent retardation of learning for the first element of each 3-element chunk of the pattern, that is, for chunk boundary elements, and transient retardation of learning for elements 2 and 3 of each chunk of the pattern, that is, for the within-chunk elements. Deficits at chunk boundaries were interpreted as deficits of phrasing cue discrimination learning whereas deficits for learning responses for elements within-chunks (elements 2 and 3 of chunks) were interpreted as deficits of rule learning. These results indicate that the effects of adolescent nicotine exposure on adult learning and cognitive capacity deserve further scrutiny.