Intracerebral microinjections of delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol: search for the impairment of spatial memory in the eight-arm radial maze in rats.

The purpose of this study was to identify brain sites that contribute to the delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta(9)-THC)-induced impairment of spatial memory in rats. Rats were tested in the eight-arm radial maze after microinjections of delta(9)-THC into one of 14 different brain regions. The bilateral microinjection of delta(9)-THC (20 microg/side) impaired spatial memory when injected into the dorsal hippocampus (DH), ventral hippocampus (VH) or dorsomedial thalamus nucleus (DMT). However, rats treated with delta(9)-THC into DMT produced preseverative behavior which has not been observed by systemic administration of delta(9)-THC. On the other hand, spatial memory was unaffected by microinjections of delta(9)-THC into the other 11 areas examined: frontal (FC) and frontoparietal (FPC) cortex, central (ACE) and basolateral (ABL) amygdaloid nucleus, medial caudate putamen (CPM), lateral hypothalamus (LH), mammillary body (MB), basal forebrain (BF), medial septal nucleus (SEP) and dorsal (DR) and median (MR) raphe nucleus. These results suggest that DH and VH may be important brain sites for the delta(9)-THC-induced impairment of spatial memory.