Epinephrine-induced enhancement of memory retrieval for inhibitory avoidance conditioning in preweanling Sprague–Dawley rats
✍ Scribed by Robert W. Flint Jr.; Michael D. Bunsey; David C. Riccio
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2007
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 143 KB
- Volume
- 49
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0012-1630
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Developmental research on memory is commonly conducted using preweanling rats, but the extent to which these animals are susceptible to hormone‐induced memory retrieval is unclear. This study examined the effects of epinephrine (.001, .01, or .1 mg/kg) on retrieval of IA conditioning in 17‐day‐old infants. Animals tested 24 hr following training performed significantly worse than infants tested 5 min after training and adults tested 24 hr later, indicating that infantile amnesia had occurred. Epinephrine attenuated this deficit in a dose‐dependent manner, with a significant improvement in performance at doses of .01 mg/kg for latency and at .01 and .1 mg/kg for safe side‐dependent measures. The role of epinephrine as a memory modulator is discussed in terms of its neurobiological and internal contextual effects. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 49: 303–311, 2007.