title: The benzodiazepine receptor inverse agonist RO 15-3505 reverses recent memory deficits in aged mice.
abstract: The benzodiazepine receptor partial inverse agonist RO 15-3505 was tested for its ability to improve impaired recent memory of aged mice. All mice successfully acquired a learning set for accurate identification of the correct arm of a T-maze and could perform with nearly 100% accuracy after 1-min delays. However, performance of the aged mice approached chance levels after 2-h delays. When injected just before testing on a series of 2-h retention tests, RO 15-3505 (from 2.5-3505 (from 2.5-10.0 mg/kg) resulted in a marked improvement of response accuracy. These results confirm the role of benzodiazepine receptor mechanisms in the modulation of memory processes, and suggest that the memory-facilitating effects RO 15-3505 or similar benzodiazepine receptor ligands may be generalized to aged rodents with impaired memory function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth 76107-2699, USA.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Forster
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Prather
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lal
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*; D001570:Benzodiazepinones / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005442:Flumazenil / Q000494:pharmacology; D058785:GABA-A Receptor Agonists; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000187:drug effects*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL
chemical_list: D001570:Benzodiazepinones; D058785:GABA-A Receptor Agonists; D001569:Benzodiazepines; D005442:Flumazenil; C040725:Ro 15-3505