A nitric oxide agonist stimulates consolidation of long-term memory in the 1-day-old chick.
Chicks, age 1 to 2 days, that have been trained on a passive avoidance task with a strongly reinforced training trial yield a memory trace that is composed of 3 behaviorally and pharmacologically distinguishable stages, with the final long-term memory stage being dependent on protein synthesis. In contrast, chicks trained with a weakly reinforced learning trial typically do not demonstrate this final stage of memory. Sodium nitroprusside 150 microM intracranially administered immediately after a weak training trial promoted the formation of long-term memory, whereas saline did not. The results suggest that nitric oxide synthesis is either itself critical or stimulates other processes that are critical for the consolidation of long-term memory.
Rickard
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Department of Psychology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia.
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Gibbs
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D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D002645:Chickens; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000502:physiology*; D009599:Nitroprusside / Q000494:pharmacology; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D013649:Taste / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology
D009599:Nitroprusside; D009569:Nitric Oxide