title: Effects of piracetam on learned helplessness in rats.
abstract: In rats, the effects of Piracetam (P), the prototype of nootropic drugs, were studied on a very widely used model of behavioral disturbance: the learned helplessness (LH) phenomenon. In this model, exposure to uncontrollable and unsignalled shocks impairs subsequent escape-avoidance learning. In a first experiment, this deficit was abolished by 200 mg/kg of P, and to a lesser extent, by a 100 mg/kg dose, administered before the training session. In non-stressed animals, no dose of P was able to have a facilitatory effect on escape-avoidance. In a second experiment, the administration of P, not before the training session as in Experiment I, but before the stress, had no effect on the LH phenomenon regardless of the dose.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Psychophysiologie, Université Paris 7, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cavoy
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ennaceur
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Delacour
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006380:Helplessness, Learned / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D010889:Piracetam / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011760:Pyrrolidinones / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012769:Shock; D013312:Stress, Physiological
chemical_list: D011760:Pyrrolidinones; D010889:Piracetam