title: Effects of Ginkgo biloba administered after spatial learning on water maze and radial arm maze performance in young adult rats.
abstract: Ginkgo biloba is reported to improve learning and memory in animals. However, many studies do not directly test the effects of Ginkgo on memory because the drug is administered during the learning phase of the experiments. In this study, we examined the effect of 10 mg/kg, 20 mg/kg, or 40 mg/kg G. biloba extract on spatial memory by administering the drug in the interval between training and testing. Rats were tested for long-term reference memory retention in the radial arm maze and in the Morris water maze during daily probe trials in which the hidden platform was removed. G. biloba had no effect on reference memory in either the water maze or radial arm maze. To test short-term working spatial memory using the radial arm maze, animals were removed after receiving the reward from 4 of the 8 arms and were returned to complete the maze 2 h later. While Ginkgo had no effect on working memory, over time animals exposed to Ginkgo learned task better than control animals. Thus, Ginkgo appears to enhance neither short-term working memory nor long-term reference memory, but it may promote learning of spatial information.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Arcadia University, 450 South Easton Road, Glenside, PA 19038, USA.
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Shif
authors.forename: Katie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gillette
authors.forename: Christa M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Damkaoutis
authors.forename: Courtney
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carrano
authors.forename: Steven J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Robbins
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Hoffman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D020441:Ginkgo biloba; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley