Effects of ketamine and L-glutamic acid diethyl ester on spatial and nonspatial learning tasks in rats.
An NMDA antagonist, ketamine, at the highest dose tested (15 mg/kg), impaired the acquisition of a hole-board spatial learning task but not the acquisition of a left-right alternation task. A non-NMDA (quisqualate) antagonist, L-glutamic acid diethyl ester (LGDE), did not impair the acquisition of either task. Both drugs had effects on different aspects of a go-no go discrimination task and a straight runway task, ketamine tending to activate and LGDE tending to slow rats. These results concur with previous research regarding the sensitivity of some spatial tasks to NMDA antagonism. Non-NMDA antagonists affect behavior without causing spatial deficits.
Lalonde
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Neurology Service, Neurobiology Section, Hôtel-Dieu Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Joyal
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D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects; D005108:Extinction, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects; D005971:Glutamates / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007649:Ketamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013028:Space Perception / Q000187:drug effects*
D005971:Glutamates; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs; C011829:glutamic acid diethyl ester; D007649:Ketamine