Retrograde amnesia produced by several treatments: evidence for a common neurobiological mechanism.
This experiment examined the effects on memory of various amnestic treatments in animals earlier treated with the alpha-adrenergic antagonist phenoxybenzamine (PBZ). Thirty minutes before being trained in a one-trial inhibitory (passive) avoidance task, animals received an injection of PBZ or saline. Immediately after training, each animal received one of the following amnestic treatments: stimulation of the frontal cortex or amygdala, pentylenetetrazol, diethyldithiocarbamate, or cycloheximide. In control animals, each treatment produced retrograde amnesia. However, PBZ-treated animals did not develop amnesia. These findings suggest that there may be a common neurobiological mechanism underlying the amnesias produced by many treatments.
D000647:Amnesia / Q000209:etiology*; D000648:Amnesia, Retrograde / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D000679:Amygdala / Q000503:physiopathology; D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D003513:Cycloheximide / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D004050:Ditiocarb / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D051379:Mice; D010643:Phenoxybenzamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D012640:Seizures / Q000150:complications
D010643:Phenoxybenzamine; D003513:Cycloheximide; D004050:Ditiocarb