Melatonin facilitates short-term memory.
The olfactory social memory test, based on the recognition of a juvenile rat by a male adult rat, was used to investigate whether melatonin influences memory. Intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection of 1.1 nmol melatonin shortened recognition time, while the melatonin ML1 receptor antagonist luzindole (1 nmol) exerted the opposite effect. The facilitating influence of melatonin was abolished in the presence of 0.5 nmol luzindole. The findings suggest that endogenous melatonin facilitates short-term memory.
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Innsbruck, Austria.
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Argyriou
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Prast
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Philippu
D000818:Animals; D007276:Injections, Intraventricular; D008297:Male; D008550:Melatonin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000187:drug effects; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear / Q000187:drug effects; D044094:Receptors, Melatonin; D012919:Social Behavior; D014363:Tryptamines / Q000494:pharmacology
D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear; D044094:Receptors, Melatonin; D014363:Tryptamines; C057154:luzindole; D008550:Melatonin