title: Effects of stress and of amphetamine on passive avoidance conditioning in rats.
abstract: This study examined the effects of immobilization stress combined with water immersion (ICS) and/or amphetamine (AM) on different memory phases in the passive avoidance task in rats. The performance of rats was evaluated in the retention tests 24 and 48 h after a single acquisition trial. ICS exposure lasting 1 h impaired retention of the learned avoidance response if applied 2 to 4 h before or immediately after training. The stressor did not affect retrieval if presented 5 or 2 h before the retention test. AM was used i.p. at the dose of 8 or 1 mg/kg. Neither 8 mg AM administered 4 h before nor 8 or 1 mg doses given after training did not impair the retention performance in unstressed rats. The 1 mg AM prevented the impairment of retention in animals exposed to the stressor 3 or 4 h before training but had no effect when the stronger impairment was induced by ICS 2 h before training. However, when given 1 h before retention testing, 1 mg AM attenuated even the severe impairment induced by the pre-training stressor exposure. Our results suggest that ICS impairs primarily the early phase of memory consolidation and a low dose of AM can prevent this effect.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Biochemistry, First Medical Faculty, Charles University in Prague, Albertov 4, 128 00 Prague 2, Czech Republic. lenka.trneckova@Lf1.cuni.cz
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Trnecková
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hynie
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sída
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hlinák
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Krejcí
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Klenerová
mesh_terms: D000662:Amphetamines / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D019417:Hindlimb Suspension / Q000379:methods*; D007101:Immersion / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D000662:Amphetamines